


February showers bring May flowers

by bookinateaspoom



Series: a new decade [4]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Zutara Month 2020, Zutara Month 2020 Part 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:20:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 22,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23945335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookinateaspoom/pseuds/bookinateaspoom
Summary: snippets from Zuko and Katara's life together, as inspired by Zutara Month prompts for February and May 2020
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: a new decade [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1622092
Comments: 40
Kudos: 128
Collections: Zutara Month 2020





	1. #1

**Author's Note:**

> This follows works in "a new decade". And this is the first time in a long time that I'm writing with a semblance of plot/continuity, albeit being a bit unconventional. I'll be posting chapters following the Zutara month prompts but the chapter titles will be the chronological order. I hope that pans out with some decency or if anything, this writing exercise becomes a good learning experience for me. Please leave reviews if you enjoy this or if there's something I can improve!
> 
> June 30 update. The chapters have been rearranged by title # i.e. chronologically. I'm truly very sorry if the latest chapter you read got lost in the shuffle!

**#1**

**Feb 11: Dragon**

**May 11: Secrets**

“Katara… is something bothering you?” Zuko asked carefully over their lunch. While training earlier with Aang he had noticed that if she hadn’t been looking bored, she had a slight frown on her face. It hadn’t been entirely different from her disapproving looks of their little group welcoming him at the air temple. Naturally, it had him worried. Only yesterday had she forgiven him. Maybe spending a night at the Fire Lord’s beach house renewed her anger at the Fire Nation and at him?

“Huh, what do you mean?”

Zuko debated with himself whether to let out that she _looked_ like something was bothering her. Katara hated when other people made assumptions. But if there really was something, he shouldn’t be making her mad even more, right? Besides, Aang wasn’t around to act as peacemaker since Toph had dragged him out to the shore to practice sandbending. Sokka and Suki were nowhere to be found after they had quickly finished their lunch and if Zuko was being honest, he didn’t want to know what they were getting up to.

Another point of contention was whether to let out that he had been in fact sneaking glances at Katara.

He must have been overthinking for a while, because Katara volunteered the information herself. “I’ve been feeling jealous, I think? Of you and Aang. Since the two of you returned from the Sun Warriors.”

Katara sounded reluctant but shared her thoughts anyway. No, she’s not taking back her forgiveness at least. But Zuko’s breath of relief is short. It seemed she’d been harbouring a secret jealousy for days now. However, what was she jealous of? Firebending?

“Actually, of Toph, too.”

 _Not_ Firebending then.

“What about?”

“Your bending. You and Aang got to face dragons, Zuko. Based on your stories, their fire was a beautiful thing to see. Life-giving, life-affirming.”

“It really was.”

“Same with Toph. You know how she got her life back and on track once she learned from the badgermoles. And Aang, Appa has been with him all his life. I’m just jealous that you all got to experience something so meaningful with the original benders of your element.”

“Katara, it’s not like you can come up to the moon and ask it to teach you how to bend. I know the moon’s Sokka’s ex-girlfriend – kind of? – but there’s really no way to have the moon teach you Waterbending.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” she answered a little too harshly. “That’s why I was initially reluctant to say. Because it’s stupid of me to want the moon as my teacher.”

“But you’ve had great teachers anyway, right?”

“You could say that…” she said quietly.

Then he remembered what she had done to the commander of the Southern Raiders. He recalled being shocked and then being scared. But he had also noticed her tears when they left the navy ship. He hadn’t been able to ask about anything because she was being quiet, on their way to Yon Rha’s home and then to Ember Island.

“This is not about the dragons and the moon, is it?” She looked him directly in the eyes this time. Tears were beginning to well in her eyes. “That day on Whaletail, what exactly did you do?”

“The others must’ve kept it from you then? I guess it’s my story to tell… It’s called bloodbending. I learned it from a “great” teacher, as you put it. Her name is Hama, one of the last Waterbenders caught and imprisoned from the Fire Nation raids on the Southern Tribe.” She continued the rest of Hama’s tale and their encounter with her in a Fire Nation village.

“I just thought it unfair, that the rest of you got to meet teachers that breathed new life to your bending… while I got a vengeful woman out to get innocent villagers. That she taught me something I think should be forbidden. The first time I did it, _on her_ , I felt fully in control and I liked it. Of course I did, because it kept Aang and Sokka safe. But no one should ever have that kind of control over another person.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn't have pried.”

“But you're wondering, why I used it on the navy captain.” Zuko nodded. “I think you’d do the same if you had the ability and you’re facing your mother’s murderer. I wanted him to confess to his sin and pay for taking my mother’s life and giving my family so much grief.”

Her bold assessment of him surprised Zuko. He hadn’t brought up his mother to them yet but they must have heard rumours that Ursa had been “disposed of.” While her assumption about his mother's disappearance was wrong, Katara was right about his theoretical actions, so he conceded to her point.

“You’re right. And I would’ve regretted it too the way you do now. You do, right, regret it?”

“I do,” she said quietly. “He was the wrong guy. And even if it was Yon Rha himself, I would’ve regretted it too! I don't think anybody would appreciate losing control of their own body. I know I wouldn't.”

An idea started to form in his mind. “Then let me act like the dragons, yeah?”

She looked at him confused. Honestly, he’s not confident in his sudden and half-formed bright idea either.

“It won’t be as magical as what Ran and Shaw did for me and Aang but I’d like to show you another side of your bloodbending. You see, the Fire Nation has a lot of field hospitals and many trained medical professionals – because of the war, unfortunately. They don’t heal the same way Waterbenders or Earth Kingdom herbalists do. If I remember correctly, they start treatments by tracing chi and blood flow. When this is all over, if you’d like, I can take you to them?”

“That sounds like a good idea. Thank you, Zuko.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in a writing slump so this is days late and I don't think there's any chapters following anytime soon.


	2. #2

**#2**

**Feb 17: Eclipse**

**May 17: Photograph**

On the morning of his coronation, Zuko found himself seated inside the Fire Lord's office. Nobody had thought to clean it up yet. The shelves were overrun by scrolls, some of them forming small hills beside and on seats that were meant for entertaining guests. Bottles of ink lined one edge of the large desk that dominated the office space. The rest of its surface was just as occupied with scrolls as the rest of the room.

Surrounded by the physical chaos, and surely those scrolls contained the details of the chaos of their nation, there was only one thought that ran in his mind. _Can I really deal with all this?_

He dared open one of the scrolls, just to see one of the things that he was up against. Instead of some official decree though, he saw a family portrait with him, Azula, and Ozai. Ozai was seated on the dragon throne, with his children knelt on each side slightly facing the centre. He remembered when this was being painted. After one of Ozai’s many war meetings, he and Azula had been asked to stay behind. Ozai had proudly told the two of them that this will be the portrait that will be on history books. He had told them that the Day of the Black Sun will mark the beginning of his dynasty, when they successfully push back foreign invaders despite an eclipse rendering Firebenders powerless. He had told them their family will be remembered and feared for all ages.

Zuko thought that Ozai could be right about the last one. That is, if he failed to do anything to support the contrary. He let out a deep sigh. _I really need to be able to handle all of this._

In that moment, he heard a soft knock on the sliding door.

“Who is it?”

“Zuko, it’s Katara.”

It was still early in the morning, making him wonder what she was doing here. “You can come in. Just be-“

She slid the door open and immediately stepped in, knocking over a pile of scrolls right by the door.

“-careful where you step.”

She stopped only one step in. “Oh spirits, I’m sorry! We were all at breakfast, your uncle asked me to get you. He said you’d likely be here.”

“You didn’t wait for me, did you?” he worriedly asked.

Katara smiled. “As if Sokka can be stopped. No, Iroh was entertaining your guests for you.”

Zuko breathed in relief, getting up. “We can go to the dining hall now. I was just…” he trailed off. Actually, he didn’t have anything in mind when he came here. It probably even made his worries worse.

Katara looked around the office. “I haven’t really thought about being in your shoes as the Fire Lord. But this looks pretty overwhelming.”

“It is,” came his clipped answer. There was no better description of it.

“What’s that you have open? Already reading reports before your coronation?” Katara teased.

He walked over to her, careful to find the actual empty spots on the floor, and handed her the portrait. She had the same look as when he informed her that the baby portrait she had been excited about in the beach house was Ozai and not him.

“I’m sorry.”

Zuko honestly didn’t know what she was being sorry about. Was she sorry about the fact that Azula is locked up and away in a mental institution? Or Ozai losing his bending and being imprisoned? Or for him having to try and govern this country that’s only known war for a hundred years?

She must’ve caught onto his silence. “I’m sorry for teasing. Today must already be nerve-wracking for you as it is. Are you ok?”

“I…” Was he supposed to say that everything was fine? Because no, everything was the opposite of fine. But he felt like he shouldn’t be burdening his friends with such thoughts, so he settled with something honest. “Thank you for your concern, Katara.”

“Zuko, I’m not asking just to be polite. I’d like to think that we’re friends. You _did_ catch a lightning strike for me. And friends do talk to each other about their problems.” She returned the rolled portrait to him, then traced his earlier steps on the small empty spaces. She stopped in front of shelf and began inspecting the labels. “But it’s okay too if you’re not ready to talk about them yet. We’ll be in Caldera City for a while, you know?”

Her soft smile gave him some of the assurance he needed. Even when her smile wasn't directed at him, Zuko thought he’d like a portrait of that instead of the one he held in his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still playing catch-up on my missed prompts.


	3. #3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter today (but it's really short).

**#3**

**Feb 26: Rainstorm**

**May 26: Sacrifice**

The day after his friends left, a rainstorm was passing the Fire Nation capital. Zuko was in his office, windows slightly open to the sound of rain battering the roof tiles. Taking a break from his work, Zuko wondered whether his friends were fine. He thought Katara and Sokka would be alright, they were used to traveling even when the seas become turbulent. Suki was with them and for sure they’ll help acclimate her and the other Kiyoshi warriors. Toph might have a harder time, she already felt uneasy on a wooden ship on calm water. Aang might be worse off still, Zuko now knew just how he felt about storms.

Zuko sighed. There was no way of exactly knowing if they were fine in this moment. It was a sacrifice he and his friends agreed to make. They knew they couldn’t help their post-war world along if they all huddled together in one place. Still, his friends had spent a few weeks in the capital after his coronation, seeing what they could help with and deciding on what they could do in their own communities and others they might pass on their way home.

He remembered Katara reminding them almost every day to check on Jang Hui village. Zuko had learned from the others that they had left the village with a clean river and a Painted Lady story to scare off troops. Katara had said that with the war over, the village might have to welcome former members of the troops as residents too and it might not be a very peaceful process.

It amazed Zuko just how Katara is never one to turn back on people who need help. He’d seen her take control of a man’s limbs, take control of a rainstorm just like this, he thought what a more beautiful sight to see would be… Katara so determined trying to help? At least, trying to help someone that wasn’t him dying from a lightning strike. He laughed at the thought. It was a sacrifice he’d take again but no, he didn’t think he could take seeing her again like that, trying to hold back tears as she healed him.


	4. #4

**#4**

**May 3: Chance Encounter**

The ship Zuko and his family were on arrives at the docks just as the sun was setting. Iroh is there to greet them, eager to welcome back his nephew as well as the family he found in Hira’a.

“Your friends arrived yesterday,” Iroh informs him as soon as hugs and introductions are out of the way. Aang, Katara, Toph, Sokka, and Suki went ahead on Appa for their return to the Fire National Capital. Zuko accompanied Ursa, Norem, and Kiyi on the fishing vessel that they hired to ferry them back. “The guest rooms are ready for Ursa and her family, pending your orders for their new quarters.”

“Thank you very much, Uncle. Not just for arranging their rooms, of course, but taking care of everything while I was away.”

“Nephew, you’ve thanked me enough for that even before you left. Now let’s go back to the palace.”

At the palace, they make quick work of introducing the staff and arranging for food to be delivered to rooms. Zuko wanted them to get rest as soon as possible. The fishing vessel was not the most comfortable to travel on, but Hira’a is only a small town. Ferries only come in once every three days and Zuko worried that the two weeks he had been gone was already too long. Although Iroh told him to not worry and take time in his search, Zuko saw no point in keeping responsibility passed off to his uncle if he could already return. Of course, as soon as Zuko arrived, Iroh insisted that he stay on to help out until things are better settled.

After checking in that Ursa, Kiyi, and Norem are served dinner, Zuko returns to his quarters where a meal waits outside the door. He picks up the tray, nods almost sleepily at the guard, and enters his room. It’s already well into the night so he decides to postpone seeing his friends to the next day.

While dressing for bed, it occurs to him that Katara was _really_ right the night they set on the search for his mother. He’s not an orphan, not anymore. While Ozai is alive, he hardly matters anymore. But Ursa is here, in the palace, and she chose to uproot her life all over again to be with her older children. Though it was not without resentment that they came to that conclusion, Zuko is at least glad of the turnout. He’s not an orphan, not anymore. Neither is Azula.

From the back of his mind a voice whispers, _But not those children._ The memories of the children at the city orphanage come flooding. All the times he and Katara spent with them, the caregivers’ exasperation at their antics, their stories from before the time war or sickness or life imprisonment took their parents away. They’re orphans still and unlike for him, for them it will never change.

Despite his fatigue, he decides to go out to the orphanage. At this time, they are being tucked into bed. Seeing them asleep and getting a short update from the director should be enough. He dons the black shirt and pants from his Blue Spirit disguise and takes his dao swords, wanting to avoid arranging for a security escort to the orphanage. He’ll only make a quick visit.

He arrives at the compound to find Himari, the director, escorting Katara out. He steps out of the shadow to greet both women. “Good evening.”

There is a look of astonishment on Himari’s face at his appearance. “Not you, too, Fire Lord Zuko! I don’t know why the two of you had the idea to visit when the children are about to sleep but I do know that both of you shouldn’t be out at this time. Especially you, Your Highness. Master Katara told me that your ship just arrived early this evening. You should be resting.”

“But-!” Zuko and Katara start.

“Tut-tut! I am hearing none of it.” For all Himari’s adamant determination to keep calling them Fire Lord Zuko and Master Katara, she sure treats them like the children she looks after. “You two return to the palace. Come back when you are well-rested. The children will be excited by your mere return and I think that you should be just as energetic so as not to disappoint them. Good night, Your Highness, my Lady.”

At that she shuts the compound’s gate on their faces.

“Huh, at least you got in?” Zuko says.

“Barely. I caught Reiji retrieving today’s mail – I think he forgot it was his turn – and he let me in.” Katara chuckles. “He let me in, but as soon as Himari saw me, I got no further than the lemon tree.”

“Then she must have said why she can’t let us in? She was too fast shooing us away earlier, I think I wouldn’t have gotten it if she said why.” They begin their way back to the palace.

“You can’t come in here right before bedtime! The children will be too excitable at the mere sight of you! Would you like to be the one tucking them into bed at midnight, Master Katara? Because if not, you better leave now,” she answers in her best attempt at an impression of Himari. “Then she tells Reiji not to let any of the other kids know, under threat of no dessert for the foreseeable future.”

“Then it’s your first time dropping by?”

“Yes, why?”

“Uncle said you arrived yesterday. I thought you would have visited them today already.”

“Well… I thought you’d like to go together. I mean! I thought it would be nice if the first time they see us is together?” Katara sighs. “So I tried to only sneak a look at the kids after bed and I wanted to ask Himari if there’s anything they need that we should bring when we do go in.”

His heart warms at her consideration.

“That’s very kind of you, Katara.”

“I suppose you had the same idea?” He nods. “But here we are, with none to show for our supposed kindness.”

“I was thinking about how this past few days have been. And I felt like wanting to see them, when I realized how much luckier I am that I found my mother.”

“Zuko… you know you shouldn’t be feeling guilty about that?”

“I know, I know. And I’m not. Feeling guilty about it, that is. I just wanted to, I guess, know more about how I can help them? Like you, I just didn’t go to briefly see the children. I wanted to talk to Himari, too.” Then he paused. The next thing he wants to say is a thought he only ever entertained briefly. But then again, this is Katara. And in the past few months she has been in the capital, he has confided in her a lot of things.

“And?” _Ah, she really knows me well._

“I was excited, to have the children meet Ursa and even Kiyi. But wouldn’t that too much be like rubbing it in their faces? ‘Hey everyone I found my mom, but you’ll never get back yours.’” He confesses then laughs bitterly about it.

“Oh, Zuko.”

“Yeah, that.”

Katara gives him a reassuring smile. “But don’t you remember? We didn’t leave without telling them anything.”

For a while he is clueless and tries to recall just what they did when they said goodbye to the children.

The two of them spent the afternoon studying and playing with them. They introduced Iroh and all of them were enamoured with the kind old man who promised to light paper lanterns with them on the next Founding Festival. Mai and Ty Lee also dropped by, although the kids were less enthusiastic about this duo than they were about the retired general. Must have been their totally opposite energies. More importantly though, Himari offered to explain to the children why Zuko and Katara were leaving.

“Zuko wants to find his mom,” Himari began telling the children gathered at the table.

Kaito, the boy who had called them mom and dad before, immediately shot a hand up. “But didn’t Zuko’s mom go to the same place where my parents went, where they can’t come back from?”

“No, Kaito, she just went somewhere secret.”

Katara’s heart broke at the sound of his resigned “Oh.”

When she looked up though, Kaito was already bright again and running around the table to hug Zuko. “Then you’re leaving to find out the secret? You’re good at that, Zuko! You always find my secret candy!”

So many other kids chipped in, “And mine!”

Reiji went up to Zuko and gave him a hug too. “Good luck Zuko, I know you’ll find out the secret and you’ll come back with your mom and we can meet her. If she’s as nice as you always say she is, she’ll be giving all of us candy in no time.”

Zuko let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding.

Back in the present, he sighs in relief. “I remember now. Thank you, Katara. You always know what to say.”


	5. #5

**#5**

**May 1: Flowers**

Zuko and Katara have been back in Capital City for a week now. However with all preoccupation surrounding the return of former Fire Princess Ursa, the two have yet to spend any meaningful time with the orphans again.

Zuko is determined to make his mother’s return as smooth as possible – moving her quarters to the side of the palace opposite those she previously shared with Ozai, rectifying records to show Ursa, not Noriko, is the wife of Noren and mother of Kiyi, arranging and accompanying her for visits with Azula. He is constantly finding himself exhausted at the end of any day. After another emotionally taxing visit at the mental health facility, he is back in his office being debriefed by Iroh on the political goings-on for the day. He is very much grateful to his uncle for deciding to stay on while their new-found family tries to settle.

“And finally, the director of the orphanage has requested an audience.” That catches Zuko’s attention, as Iroh intended. “She specifically said an audience with Fire Lord Zuko, not his representative General Iroh. Have you been to the orphanage since coming back, nephew?”

Zuko shifts behind the desk uncomfortably. He has been to the orphanage, but not long enough for it to matter. To be fairly honest, he didn’t even step foot in the compound. “No, not yet. Tomorrow afternoon we’re due to discuss dams with the farmers’ representatives and earthbenders, aren’t we? You say one of the representatives is a reasonable fellow. If we can end court early, I will go to the orphanage.”

“Very well. I’ll retire for the night, Fire Lord Zuko. Please don’t stay here any longer than necessary. Rest.” Iroh shuffles out of the office and as soon as he is out, the guard announces another visitor.

“Lady Katara, sir.”

She barely walks in. “Zuko, you seem so tired. I think we should talk tomorrow instead.”

“No, it’s fine, it’s fine.” This is the first time he _really_ sees her after returning with Ursa, so he is not too eager to let her walk off so soon. But her concern reminds Zuko of the night in his office when they decide on the search. At the memory, a smile almost breaks on his lips and in a stupid attempt to seem aloof, he tries to disguise it with a yawn.

“You look like you could fall asleep anytime,” Katara teases.

“I promise, after we talk, I’ll go straight to my quarters. What was it you wanted to discuss?”

Katara blushes. “I haven’t been to the orphanage since…”

Another memory. This time, he lets his smile be. “Perfect. I just swore to my uncle that I’ll visit tomorrow. Do you want to go together?”

Katara returns his smile. “I’d like that. That’ll be all, Fire Lord. I’ll go now.” On her exit, she takes a pause at the door. _She seems to have an awful habit of announcing her leave then suddenly having something else to say,_ Zuko observes.

“Anything else?” Zuko is picking up a few scrolls to take to his quarters, just to catch up on details of more important matters.

“It’s just, I thought we should do something special for the kids? You know, an apology for being away for a while.” Zuko pauses to think, although he is quite confident that Katara already thought it up. “The gardens, I’ve never seen them in bloom ever? Even during your coronation or when I first returned with my father… But the gardens look so beautiful now, Zuko! And I thought the children would appreciate some flowers.”

The gardens hadn’t seen some decent tending to ever since his mother left. But he learned after returning that the royal gardener, who was friends with Ursa, insisted to replant some flowers from her home. “I’d like to welcome Ursa back,” she adamantly said, according to Iroh.

“Katara, the gardens are fairly new. Hana had only replanted blooms from her own garden. I don’t think there will be enough for all the children. How about we bring them a bouquet instead, as a promise to take them to the gardens in the future?”

Her smile is brighter than earlier. “That’s perfect! Thank you, Zuko. I’ll really take my leave now. Good night.”


	6. #6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am an absolute dumb dumb for reading the prompt as Water once and then just going for it. I realized I was wrong (the prompt is WINTER!) when I saw the Tumblr posts and all of them go Zuko! In! A! Parka!
> 
> I hope you all still enjoy this!

**#6**

**May 2: Water**

In between the bouquet promise and actually taking the orphans, Katara makes it a point to visit the royal gardens whenever Hana is also around. For one, she loves seeing all different kinds of flowers starting to bloom. For another, she enjoys Hana’s company. And yet for another, she feels partially responsible for the garden after making such a big promise to the children.

This morning she decides to go well before breakfast, hoping to catch Hana watering the new batch of plants re-potted from her home garden. Hana is inside the shed when Katara arrives.

“Good morning, Hana,” she greets the older woman, who is already busy ordering around a younger gardener to fetch the water hose. “I can take care of that, you know.”

“I know, dear Katara,” Hana smiles assuredly. “But I really wouldn’t want to impose on the Fire Lord’s guest.”

“Based on Ursa’s stories, you had no qualms ordering a royal around this garden many years ago,” Katara teases. “Let me help with the tulips on the far edge of the garden at least.”

“Very well, my dear. Enjoy the sun,” Hana says.

Katara barely misses hitting Kiyi when she swings open the shed’s door. “Oh no, Kiyi! I’m so sorry, did you get hurt?”

“I didn’t, don’t worry, Miss Katara! Good morning!” Kiyi’s smile is as bright as today’s morning sun. When Katara looks up from the girl, she sees Ursa a few steps behind.

“We were just talking about you Ursa!” Hana chimes in from the back.

“Were you? I hope you’re not tricking Katara into slaving away here,” Ursa answers. “Zuko should be here soon too. Says he feels guilty about burdening you with a promise he made.”

As if on cue, Zuko approaches from the garden gates. “Looks like everyone had the same idea of coming to the gardens this morning?”

“Good morning and you are right, Fire Lord,” Hana cheerfully greets. “At least when it comes to you and Katara. Seems like both of you are quite guilt-ridden about bringing the orphans here.”

“Well, I feel particularly bad that we didn’t tell you beforehand.”

“Your Highness, this is my job and I think you know that I am paid well for it. But if you must insist on helping out some, the soil in the tulip beds need turning after Katara waters them.”

His mother accepts for him, though he was intent on saying okay anyway, and bids them to take Kiyi along. “Kiyi had a little garden of her own in Hira’a, you know. I think she knows about turning soil more than you.”

“That’s funny, Mom,” Kiyi playfully agrees. She runs over to Zuko and takes his hand in both tiny hands of hers. “But Zuko knows about a hundred other things more than me, so it’s okay. Come on let’s go.”

On the way to the new flower beds, Katara observes that in the short time that Kiyi has spent with Zuko, the little girl has grown very comfortable with the idea of having an older brother. Having grown up with a brother who is close her age though, Katara doesn’t quite relate to Kiyi’s unabashed joy from Zuko’s attention. Sokka as a brother did not always mean candy and moo-sow back rides. Most of the time it was snowballs in the face and fighting over the last sea prune in a pot of stew. She’s glad Kiyi has such a sweet relationship with Zuko right off the bat.

When they reach the edge of the garden, Kiyi inquires, “You will be bending the water, right, Miss Katara?”

Katara chuckles at her obvious excitement. “Yes,” Katara answers, settling into a bending stance.

Zuko knows that she doesn’t need forms to merely water the plants but guesses that it’s for the added practice. One can never be too confident in their bending, even Masters like them. “Kiyi, you should be calling her _Master_ Katara, you know,” Zuko comments.

“Please show us your waterbending, Master Katara!”

Katara first feels around for the closest source of water. The city has modern plumbing and the water must come from somewhere closer than the open harbour. The Capital City being a literal caldera, there are few if no underground sources of water. Then she remembers the great lake east of the palace grounds that tugs at her bending on full moons. The water she summons, she first bends around. Both to practice her bending and to entertain Kiyi.

“Beautiful! It’s so beautiful, Master Katara!”

The last of the water she summons, Katara swirls around Kiyi. It’s difficult to be careful about getting her clothes or hair wet, when the little girl insists on feeling the rush of cool water on her arms and face.

“Alright Kiyi, I think that’s enough playing around. We still have to tend to the soil after Katara waters the plants, remember?”

“Isn’t her bending beautiful, Zuko?” Kiyi is still giggling, as if not hearing her brother’s soft admonition.

He gets up from his seated position next to the plot of tulips, now determined to get on with his assigned task. “Yes, yes, she is,” he replies absentmindedly, in a tone hoping to appease his sister.

“Hear that, Master Katara? You _and_ your bending are beautiful!”

Zuko’s eyes widen at Kiyi’s comment and tries to recall what he just said. _Did Kiyi ask me if Katara is beautiful or if her bending is beautiful?_ When he looks up to see Katara with a shadow of a smile and a hint of a blush, he has his answer.

Katara tries to hide her satisfaction at his compliment. Such compliments were often exchanged between them lately but if one were to ask her, nothing remotely romantic has really happened between them since the brief kisses as the Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady. As if they left all notions of romance with their secret identities. Amidst the busyness of her role at the hospital, his being a Fire Lord, their commitment to the orphanage, the search for his mother, among many others, she settled to “wait for the right time”. _Whenever that may be._

Brushing the thoughts aside, she sits down next to Kiyi who already began tugging out small weeds. “Thank you, Kiyi, and you can call me Katara, okay?”


	7. #7

**#7**

**Feb 5: Southern Water Tribe Culture**

**May 5: Cave of Two Lovers**

“And that’s how the city of Omashu came to be,” Katara wraps up last scroll for the day. Stories like that of Oma and Shu are now included in young children’s education in the Fire Nation. It is part of a larger reform that stemmed from Iroh developing his bending with techniques from other elements. Of course, the reform does not focus merely on bending, but expands to learning more about and from other nations in general.

That afternoon, the children are practicing reading with Katara, with an array of scrolls from the palace library. Zuko appears just as they are cleaning up. All the younger children run up to greet him at the gate. Over time, their greetings have changed from formalities to the Fire Lord and a Master Waterbender to a pile of voices too excited to tell just what they were up to for the day.

“Katara told us the story of Oma and Shu!”

“It’s so sad Shu died, Zuko! I hope you don’t die!”

“Do you think you can get out of the Cave of Two Lovers, Zuko? Katara says it’s a maze.”

 _Huh, what a perfect opening to tease Katara._ “Did she, now? Did she say how she got out when she went there?”

All the children turn to Katara, their excitement grown tenfold. “Katara! You have been to the cave?”

Her eyes widen. _Does he know about me kissing Aang?_ “Yes,” Katara answers, but not without a quick glare at Zuko.

“Well then, how did you get out? You said it’s such a difficult maze!”

“She tried two ways!” Zuko butts in. Yet another glare from Katara.

“Wow, you thought of _two_ ways! I keep telling you all, Katara is very smart!” announces one of the kids.

_Tui and La, how does one get a word in edgewise among excitable children and a troublemaking Fire Lord?_

When the children are all back settled and waiting around the low table in the orphanage’s reading room, Katara concedes that there was no way to wriggle out of this. She doesn’t want to lie to the children either, so out the truth goes. The children are fascinated to find out that their beloved Katara kissed _Aang_. Not because he is the Avatar, but because the children absolutely loved it when he and their other friends visited soon after returning from Hira’a. Aang determined that fruit pies and a turn in his glider would win him the orphans’ hearts. With the sheer amount of fascination around him now, one can only conclude that his ways did their magic. And it somehow explains how their second way out – glowing crystals in a thousands year-old cave – does not incite quite the same level of excitement.

Himari then calls for dinner, which meant having to say goodbye to Katara and Zuko. The two of them are due at the palace for a working dinner with Iroh, to talk over security detail given rumours of insurgency in the capital. Katara wasn’t informed beforehand what it was about, only that it had something to do with her. Zuko barely has any info either, since his uncle only informed him earlier in the day. “Keep an eye on Katara,” his uncle said and so Zuko made sure that one of his guard followed her through the day and he went to pick her up from the orphanage.

On the way to the palace, he wants to discuss what he knows with her, at least to have the two of them levelled when they meet Iroh later. But she gets the word in first, with both embarrassment and disappointment in her voice. “It wasn’t very nice of you to put me on the spot like that, you know.”

He instantly knows what she is talking about. He only meant to tease, having assumed that her and Aang’s kiss wasn’t really a big deal. Not anymore, at least. Then it occurs to him that he only ever heard the story from Aang’s perspective. “I’m… sorry, Katara. Aang seemed to look back on it with humour. I didn’t know you didn’t like it… I’m really sorry.”

“I don’t think I don’t like the story itself. ‘Because of the kissing statues, I thought it might be the way so we kissed but it didn’t work but there were glowing crystals and those worked,’ makes a nice story, I suppose. But I don’t like recalling the way I felt in that cave.”

“Huh, what do you mean?”

“When I suggested that we kiss, Aang said some hurtful things that I now know were just him being awkward about his feelings for me. Can you believe it – he said if he had to choose between certain death and kissing me, he would definitely choose me?” Katara lets out a chuckle.

“Then you felt unlikeable?” If only things were clearer between the two of them, Zuko would have easily interjected that kissing her is the only correct answer no matter the options.

“No, I was disappointed. In me, mostly. You see, there is a coming of age rite for boys in the Southern Water Tribe.”

“How is that relevant to Aang?”

“Hush, you. Let me finish the story. Honestly, you’re not any better than the children.”

“Fine, fine. I’m reserving all my questions for important interruptions only.”

“Good. Now, I’m talking about ice dodging – you’re expected to navigate a sailboat around icy waters. Sokka hadn’t been able to do it back home because Dad was away. When we met with Bato though, he took us rock dodging instead. Sokka gave me and Aang instructions to control the boat. Given that all three of us are still alive now, we passed that rite and Aang was given the Mark of the Trusted.”

Zuko wonders if there is anything he has done that will earn him that mark from Katara.

“I assume then that the disappointment stems from some sort of betrayal of trust?”

“Yes, the Mark of the Trusted is given to outsiders. A symbol of a tribesman’s trust in that individual’s support and kindness. Aang’s words hurt me and I thought bitterly about Bato giving the mark to Aang, thinking he didn’t deserve it. Every time I look back on our time at the cave, those thoughts seem to grow more disproportionately unkind, compared to the mere spurned offer of a kiss.”

Zuko is tempted to ask then about what she really felt about another time in another crystal-covered cave with another boy with whom she placed her trust but ultimately betrayed her. She has forgiven him, of course. But he has a morbid curiosity of what were her exact thoughts. When exactly did she trust him? What exactly made her trust him? When exactly did he lose her trust? Was it when he shouted at his uncle for coming with the Avatar? Or when he paused to entertain Azula’s offer? Or when he shot the first fire blast fighting on his sister’s side?

He decides he isn’t prepared for that conversation yet, and goes back to his original plan of getting Katara up to speed on Iroh’s agenda.


	8. #8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zutara month quarantimes edition might be over but I'm still here

**#8**

**Feb 22: Blood Moon**

**May 22: Lost**

Katara sighed worriedly. She had promised to see the predicted blood moon with the children at the orphanage today – but look where she was now. Lost in a part of Harbor City she had never been in. She already knew the way straight from the palace to the orphanage, of course. Although getting derailed by an enthusiastic storeowner or a pleading mother was a different story altogether.

Katara was stopped by a young woman tending to a newly opened shop selling crafts out of scrap metal. Inside the store she was regaled with a story of having to shift from weapons manufacturing to something resembling the arts. She was intent on listening, but was distracted by the urgency to get to the waiting children. Finally the story finished. Still, on her way out, she ran into a boy dragging his mother into the shop. He was pointing at what looked like a folded crane on display, but coughing out “Mom, I want that!”

Hearing it prompted Katara to respectfully ask the mother how the boy was. She then learned that all of their family were suffering from a respiratory disease caused by living downwind from the factories. She had already seen cases during her time healing as the Painted Lady, but never heard of entire families with it. Katara asked to be taken to their home, to see to the rest and also to see just how many people lived in their exposed community. Too preoccupied by her own thoughts, she failed to take note of the way.

When she was done healing the first family and scheduling a healing session with one of the leaders, she intended to find her way to the orphanage. When she stepped outside, the moon she saw was starting to be shadowed. She had seen blood moons before, but not like this one. Astronomers in Ba Sing Se University had sent word that this will be the first of four within two years. No one had told her what that would mean for her bending. She didn’t have a past experience to compare too either. She barely had any control of her bending during the lunar eclipses in her younger years.

Out on the streets, many residents were already outside their homes waiting for the sight of a blood red moon. Katara could easily ask one of them for directions. As she resolved to approach a man with his daughter sat on his shoulders, a hand grabbed at her arm.

When Katara tried to bend lightly for self-defence, the water didn’t respond to her call. It made her panic, recalling that she had been warned against Fire Nation nobles who may be after her. She had learned previously too that this was the part of town Zuko found Combustion Man.

“Relax, it’s only me,” came the familiar voice from beside her. Under the still bright moonlight, she immediately recognized Zuko’s face.

“Thank the spirits it’s you.”

“Did you get lost?”

“I did. I was about to ask someone for directions. You left the children?”

“What else could I have done? I heard you might lose your bending during this blood moon. Did you know that?” he asked worriedly.

“Everything I’ve read indicated that a blood moon shouldn’t have much of an effect on Waterbenders.”

“But we received notice from Ba Sing Se University that this is the first of a tetrad. They said they didn’t have records on bending for such occurrences. Katara, what if someone else caught you off guard and you were unable to bend?”

Katara wanted to argue that she had non-bending fighting skills, too, but worried as he was, she let it go. That argument can be tabled for another time, she'll give it her all then. Besides, he must be as anxious as her to get to the orphanage. Ultimately, she chose not to answer his question, for want to avoid escalating both of their fears. “Let’s just go back to the children, yeah?”

She must have read him right. Zuko resigned to grabbing her hand in his, leading the way back.


	9. #9

**#9**

**Feb 9: Partners in Crime**

**May 9: Shatter**

Reiji and Kaito spot Zuko and Katara in the shopping district, having tea at a shop highly recommended by his uncle. Through the window, Katara notices the two boys and waves at them. They blush, as if caught spying on something they shouldn’t see, and instead of waving back sprints away from the tea shop. By the time Zuko turns around to see, the two are already gone.

“Who were you waving to?”

“Reiji and Kaito. They ran for it.”

“Huh, do you think they have it in their heads again that we’re dating?”

They are, in fact, not dating. This afternoon tea is, in fact, not a date.

The trip to the tea shop meant to be a group excursion but Zuko’s family has suddenly been occupied. Ursa and Kiyi are spending more time with Azula today. A messenger hawk from the doctors came earlier, advising that today Azula is more open to interactions. Noren only spends time with the Fire Lord when Ursa is also around and Iroh already left for Ba Sing Se. instead of cancelling their long-awaited reservation altogether, Ursa insisted in the letter postscript that Zuko and Katara go.

“Oh, spirits,” Katara sighs. Half because the kids are at it again. Half because _why haven’t we started dating yet?_

“Do you think if we leave some very obvious clues, they’ll really believe it?”

Katara can see it in his eyes, Zuko has a plan for another prank on the kids. He definitely enjoys pranking them and she enjoys being his partner in "crime". His favourite is taking their secret candy and hiding them in a place he thinks they haven’t thought of yet. One time they agreed to stick all the packaged candy to the roof with ice, surprising them with "candies falling from the sky" in the morning once the ice had melted.

His plan today consists of finding where Reiji and Kaito ran off to, they were still empty-handed when Katara saw them and should still be in the shopping district, and then luring them in with a few displays until it’s the two boys who are following. The plan succeeds in more ways than one (stories for another time!) because the last Zuko and Katara see of the boys, they are running again – away from the shelf of shattered tea sets they’ve toppled over in surprise and presumably back to the orphanage, to boast that they have been right all this time!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #9 is not the only update today. #24 and #25 were uploaded earlier.  
> Cute that #9 falls on Day 9 right?


	10. #10

**#10**

**Feb 10: Fake dating**

**May 10: Sunset**

After Katara and Zuko finish the single pot of tea they were served – true to Iroh’s words, it was a delicious blend – the two step out of the shop intent on making Zuko’s plan happen. First, find out where Reiji and Kaito ran off to. It hasn’t been long since Katara first saw them and they should still be in one of the shops. They’re most likely still shopping for lighter items, to avoid lugging meat and produce around for the rest of the trip. So Zuko and Katara make their way to the spice merchants first. _Bingo_.

The boys are wrapping up a purchase when the two spot them. Before they're seen, they quickly duck into a store a few doors down from the stall where the boys are.

“Okay, we’ll just have to stroll past them while holding hands. Is that alright?” Katara notices the excitement in Zuko’s voice and tries to not think of it as anything more than the thrill of the pranks he enjoys. She nods and they exit just as quick as they entered, leaving a confused attendant behind the counter.

As soon as they’re out, he takes her left hand in his right. When they walk behind the two boys, who are still occupied rearranging items in a bag, Zuko speaks a little louder than usual. “Uncle was right, the tea there is great. Would you like to go back soon?”

Nothing he says implies it will be a date the next time around. The tea was truly great and if the reservations didn’t take very long, she would love to go back every week. It’s easy to say, “Of course.”

“Then it’s a date.” As much as she wanted it not to, his grin plants a seed of hope in her heart. He makes more idle talk while they walk towards the end of the line of spice stores and stalls where they turn the corner. Zuko surreptitiously looks back, met by the sight of Reiji and Kaito excitedly talking to each other.

“Did they see?”

“I think they did,” Zuko answers eagerly. He seems to be really enjoying pulling this one on the younger boys. “Now where do you want to go next?”

“What do you mean? I thought you had a plan!”

“Hmm, my plan was really just to string them along. Why not make it enjoyable for the two of us? So, where do you want to go?”

Katara knows that he is a generally considerate person and concludes that right now he isn’t trying to make her feel special. But his thoughtfulness, combined with the fact that he still hasn’t let go of her hand just yet… Well, the seed of hope in her heart just sprouted a tiny bit.

“The docks aren’t too far from here, right?”

He pauses to consider it. “Not really, no. You’re alright with holding hands all the way there?”

“You said it isn’t a long way from here. It’s okay, I guess.”

Either Zuko lied or didn’t know at all. Because they left the shopping district mid-afternoon and it is almost sunset when they reach the docks. The former feeds a tiny seedling of hope. _Did he want to hold hands for a while?_ For want to quell the hope, Katara leans on the latter. Despite how stupid it sounds given that he’s the Fire Lord.

But then again, when she recalls their conversation on the way… Zuko was pointing out to her shops along the main road, which ones were family-owned and which ones belonged to seasonal traders. He told her stories of the several times his cousin Lu Ten snuck him out to the harbour. On the more serious side, he shared about the last time they bid farewell to Lu Ten and also about the walk of shame down to the docks on the first day of his banishment. He changed the subject easily and when they came across food stalls, treated her to food he claimed people from other nations didn’t mind eating. To be real honest, she enjoyed the time, almost forgetting about the two boys they’re trying to fool.

They stop a few ships down the pier, where a man set up shop to display earthenware in front of what looked like an Earth Kingdom boat. There’s a shelf of teacups that caught Katara’s attention. Her one hand still held in his, she uses the other to clink a cup into another.

“Say, Katara, why did you pick the docks?”

“I just missed the sea breeze, it doesn’t really reach the caldera. And being close to such a large body of water always calms me. That’s all.”

“Then we’ll come here more often,” he concludes.

Although she badly wants to agree, spending more time alone together, she also doesn’t want to grow more confused. So she says, “We don’t have to, you know. You and I are busy people. I can come here on my own.” She finishes her inspection of the tea sets, says thank you to the Earth Kingdom man with a finality that’s intended for both him and Zuko.

“Then you didn’t enjoy today?” he asks when they reach a stall further down.

She pauses before answering. She did enjoy the tea, the walk, the sights, the stories, the sea, the hand holding. “Not the lying, no.”

He pulls her gently away from the stall and into the shadow of a large navy ship. “Katara, please look at me.” She does. “But you enjoyed the rest of today?”

With the hope in her chest blooming, she nods.

“Then will you spend your next free day with me?”

It’s his grin that convinces her. “Okay.”

“Let’s seal it with a kiss?” Her furious blush makes him chuckle. He clasps her hand tighter, she squeezes back, and then he lifts it to kiss the back of her hand. “Just kidding. I promise to make it more enjoyable than today.”

“I look forward to it.”

The small moment is broken when they hear quite a number of tea sets shattering. They see the backs of Reiji and Kaito, running away from the travelling merchant.

“Come on, let’s cover for the kids. But I swear there won’t be such unnecessary expenses on our first date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #10 falls on the 10th prompt day too!


	11. #11 After the rain / First date

**#11**

**Feb 23: After the rain**

**May 23: First date**

Zuko and Katara had agreed to a date without pretence and without kids following them and breaking things the two of them would be liable to pay for. They had been able to pick the day, fortunately. Zuko argued for the date with the least likelihood of rain. Yet here was the day and here was the rain pouring like it intended to flood the caldera.

He had been up early, woken by the pelting against the roof tiles and with the waking thought that Katara would blame him for ruining their first date at the get go. He was supposed to meet her before breakfast to visit Hana’s gardens.

Zuko went through his morning routine, distracted. _Now, what are we supposed to do? I can’t mess this up. I may have already ruined my chances with pretending from before._ His early meditation suffered for his wild thoughts.

At last, he resolved to at least find Katara. What happens after that, he’ll maybe figure out something. He headed to the palace doors leading to the gardens, they had agreed to meet there. Katara was already standing outside of the open doors, under the awning.

She must have sensed his approach, turning. “You’re late.”

That flustered Zuko. He hadn’t even realized he was running long. He had still taken a leisurely pace on the way. “I’m very sorry! I was... distracted?”

“Distracted?”

“This rain! We were supposed to have a nice day outside.”

Katara chuckled. “You must have forgotten.”

All of a sudden, the sound against the tiles and concrete were absent. She was right, he’d forgotten that she was perfectly capable of taking control of rain like this.

He laughed. “You’re amazing.”

The smile she gave him pushed away his worries.

“But of course I don’t want to be keeping the rain off us the entire time,” Katara said defiantly. “What do you say to a breakfast date in the dining hall and another one outside after the rain?”

The promise of another date when the first had barely begun? Of course he’ll say yes to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have 8 prompts to go! i swear, they will get done


	12. #12 Scars / Trust

**#12**

**Feb 15: Scars**

**May 15: Trust**

If anyone were to ask Katara who was the person she’d trust with her life, there were many she could name. But if were one to ask her right in this moment, the answer would be Zuko. It only felt right to return the immense trust he was showing her.

They had just finished with their nightly spar. They ended at a standstill, both agreeing to finish up before dawn could come upon them. Zuko, exhausted, had immediately taken up space on the sand. “Full moon, huh?”

Katara chuckled, looking up through the open roof too. She was less obvious about her exhaustion, but even under the full moon the intense bending tonight had still taken a lot out of her. “Yue provides only a little push. You deflected most of my attacks.”

“Not this one,” Zuko said, pointing at his left ear. There was bleeding from a small cut on his earlobe.

“Zuko! Why didn’t you tell me? It could get infected,” she said, rushing over to him. She immediately summoned cleaner water from her own waterskin and made quick work to heal the small wound. “I got you with the ice blades before we ended?”

“Yes. Don’t worry, it won’t scar badly.”

“Zuko… You never really told us, you know. About this scar.” Katara lightly touched his left cheek. It reminded her of that one time in the crystal catacombs under Ba Sing Se. Zuko frowned. “You only ever told us it was Ozai that did it. I remember Aang was ready to take his Firebending all over again.”

“I thought…”

“That your uncle would’ve told us? No, Iroh won’t do that to you. That we would’ve heard rumours? We did, but a lot of them were just plain weird. There was one saying your food was undercooked and the Firelord was so impatient he tried to give it that extra heat and accidentally burned you. And then there was one saying-“

Zuko interrupted, “I spoke out of turn and he didn’t like what I said. I gave him the reason to finally get rid of me and out of the line of succession. He always preferred Azula, did you know?”

“What did you say that got him so mad?”

“I spoke out against sending new recruits into a death trap. They didn’t deserve being betrayed by their leaders like that. I heard that most of them died anyway…”

Katara paused to think. “Ozai is obsessed with power, isn’t he? It seems like that was the only thing he ever looked for in anyone.”

“He never found any in me. Especially when I refused to fight him and instead begged on my knees. That’s why he disfigured me and banished me, just like that.”

“No!” Katara disagreed furiously. “I mean, he must have realized that you had great bending potential too. I assume he only thought that you wouldn’t have ultimately used it according to his will. Sure, Azula is the more powerful of the two of you. But she was much younger and impressionable, and based from what I’ve heard from Iroh, she was intentionally kept away from his gentler influence.”

“And yet the both of us were still instruments of this spirits-forsaken war.”

“Which is why you’re here as the Fire Lord, trying to make amends for your forefathers. And why you’re always finding time to help Azula. I got lucky having Sokka as a brother. Don’t let Sokka hear this – I think Azula is much luckier to have you.”

“She thinks she’s a monster, Katara… I’m so, so sorry, she ever tried to hurt you.” Zuko’s tears were flowing freely now. “But she’s really not. She wasn’t, in the beginning. She was very sweet as a little child. We shared the nursery for almost three years. She never made a fuss and always wanted to share her toys with me. But a monster raised us and she was left all alone with that monster while I was out on a pointless task to please him.”

“But you’re here now! You’re making progress, she’s making progress. The scars left by your monster of a father will be remembered but only because you’ve overcome them. I’m here… our friends are here. We won’t let him steer this world or your family wayward ever again.”

“We won’t ever completely make it up to the world… all those lives lost. Your own family suffered for this war, Katara. The whole life Aang’s ever known, he won't live it again. The Fire Nation took them all away and I have no hope to truly return them.”

“We’ll try our very best for those who remain. We’re already trying. I’m here. As your ambassador, as your friend.” She gave him a light kiss. “As your girlfriend. I’m here, okay? Trust me.”

“With my life.”

“As I trust you with mine,” she said softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear, I'll finish everything before June ends!


	13. #13 Intimacy / Clueless

**#14**

**Feb 16: Intimacy**

**May 16: Clueless**

For someone who grew up on the South Pole, Katara was suddenly very sensitive to the cold. She always huddled against him whenever they were above board while on the journey up to the North Pole for the first peace summit. Zuko assumed her months in the tropics had softened her resilience against harsher weather. The alternative was that she simply wanted to be close to him. And not only for his natural warmth as a Firebender. Just that, close to him. He liked the idea. But whenever he thought it, he would suddenly be conscious of the eyes on them. The few soldiers who accompanied them would be training on deck while Zuko, as the highest officer aboard, went through with inspections. She must notice their conspicuous staring, right? She couldn’t be clueless about their very public intimacy…

“Katara, the soldiers are staring,” Zuko decided to outright say.

“I know,” she answered cheekily. “But I like being under the sun for at least part of the day and you’re warm and I like being close to you. And we’re dating aren’t we, what do they care about me walking just a little closer to you when we’re out here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #13 and #14 should be switched in the chronology!!!


	14. #14 Don't hurt her/him / Betrayal

**#13**

**Feb 4: Don’t Hurt Her/ Him**

**May 4: Betrayal**

As soon as he gets off Appa, Sokka runs and greets them whining. “I feel soooooo betrayed! Katara you’re my sister! Zuko, I thought we were friends!”

The couple look at Sokka in confusion.

Suki follows down from the saddle, while Aang helps Toph. The earthbender doesn’t like being at the poles, even if her friends live on one of them. She dislikes the feeling of reaching for earth but then finding it below centuries’ worth of ice. Even so, she came along to the North Pole. It is where the first ever peace summit is being held. With Sokka sure to join, shadowing their father who is the South’s chief, Suki being the leader of the Kiyoshi Warriors, Zuko as the Fire Lord, Katara being an ambassador to the Fire Nation, and of course Aang being the Avatar, all her friends are expected to be in attendance. Toph decided even before the venue was determined that despite not holding any political office, she will tag along.

Now she’s wrapped in the finest parka Beifong money could buy and half-regretting coming after all. They have barely landed and Sokka is already making a fuss. He was muttering under his breath when he first saw from afar the two figures holding mitten-covered hands.

“This!” Sokka gestures wildly at the hands still linked.

“Oh, this,” Katara answers sheepishly, while Zuko lifts to Sokka’s view their clasped hands.

“Um, I guess we’re dating now?”

“You guess! How am I supposed to be threatening anybody about hurting anybody if you _guess_ you’re dating?”

Suki catches up with them and half-heartedly attempts to hold her boyfriend back. “Come on, Sokka. What’s so bad about Zuko and Katara dating?”

“You, Zuko, don’t you dare hurt my baby sister! And you, Katara, if you ever hurt my best buddy Zuko here-!” he abruptly stops. “I’ll… I’ll…”

Toph and Aang are also down from Appa now. “I _see_. You feel betrayed because Sparky and Sugar Queen here are dating and you’re utterly confused about which of them you’ll have to fend off with your manly man threats.”

Sokka stutters.

“Really, Sokka. You’re being a sweet brother.” Katara goes to hug him, it has been long since they saw each other after all. “But you know I can handle myself. And besides, if you don’t like threatening your best buddy Zuko on my behalf, would you prefer I date someone outside our little group? Hahn, maybe?”

“No!” Sokka and Zuko answers at the same time.

Everyone laughs and all the “I missed you” hugs ensue. They walk in small groups to the ice palace. The girls are huddled together, Suki excitedly telling Katara about the matching parkas the Beifongs bought for all of them. Aang left earlier, taking Momo and Aang to the heated stable where they would be spending the night. Zuko and Sokka wanted to talk about politics, until Zuko brings up again how they greeted each other earlier.

“Sokka, you and Suki are dating and you’re both my friends. I wouldn’t take sides now, but I’d really hate it if one of you hurt the other. Rest assured that only then will I make and make good on threats,” Zuko jokes.

“Fine,” Sokka’s shoulders slump at the reluctant agreement. “I guess I have to do the same. You better be prepared for my boomerang and space sword, Jerkbender.”

“I heard that, Sokka! If you don’t stop that I’ll write Master Piandao and tell on you threatening us with skills he taught you.” Katara shouts from ahead of them.

“Yup, she can handle herself,” Sokka agrees proudly.


	15. #15 Caught undressed / Comfort

**#15**

**Feb 18: Caught undressed**

**May 18: Comfort**

“Zuko, are you deliberately being stupid?” Katara shouted as soon as she saw him enter the dining hall. Before he could even ask what she was talking about, Katara had stood up from her seat at the large table and dragged him out. “Where’s your room?”

He pointed to the general direction of his room and Katara trudged all the way, one of his arms clutched to her, until he prompted, “This is my room.” Without being told, he unlocked the door. Again, Katara dragged him in.

“Where’s the parka from the Beifongs?” Katara demanded. He looked clueless about why she would be looking for it, but pulled out the package anyway.

“Now take your clothes off.”

“What?”

“Zuko, it’s something I see you wear in the capital on the worst rainy days but it’s not fit for the North Pole!” He was wearing a red light jacket, with decent fur lining on the neck and sleeve holes. Removing it revealed a silk undershirt. “I don’t get it, you dressed warmly yesterday. Did you eat something at the banquet last night that made you stupid?”

“Katara, Katara, slow down.”

“No, you have to get changed into something warmer. Oh spirits, don’t tell me that other than your coat yesterday, everything else you packed are light jackets?”

“And if I tell you exactly that?”

“Then we’ll have to find the nearest shop to find you warmer clothes.”

“Katara, it’s fine.” He took off his silk undershirt then. “See?”

The angry blush already on Katara’s cheeks grew redder, but in embarrassment. What was she supposed to be seeing? His muscled upper body? Zuko must have caught her pause, she suspected his chuckle was at her expense.

“I meant for you to see that I’m not freezing.” Indeed, he wasn’t shivering. “I’ve been Firebending to keep warm, so I don’t need very warm clothes.”

As he was putting back the undershirt, someone knocked on the door – _once_ – and decided to open it without waiting for a response. “Fire Lord Zuko, General Iroh wanted me to-!”

The young man, Min, looked frantically between Zuko and Katara. Min was an aspiring diplomat from the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se and Katara knew Iroh only recently took him under his wing, but aren’t rules of knocking quite basic? The flustered look on Min’s face somehow settled the one on Katara’s. At least she’s not the only one getting embarrassed in this situation.

Min stuttered out, “I’m sorry Your Highness! Master Katara! I’m sorry for disturbing you!” He quickly bowed, walked back out, and slammed the door shut. Through the door, he loudly said, “Your uncle wanted me to get you for the first meeting. A few people saw you leave the dining hall with Master Katara and General Iroh said it would reflect badly on you if you were late on the first day. I’ll go now, but please, be mindful of the time!”

When Zuko and Katara were sure Min was gone, they shared quite a laugh. “Poor boy,” Katara said. “This is all your fault, if you dressed warmly _like a normal person would_ , we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“You were the one making assumptions,” Zuko answered.

“I wanted you to be comfortable,” she shot back. “Anyway, put on the parka.”

“I just said I’m keeping warm with bending!”

She huffed. “You’re an excellent Firebender, Zuko. But you can’t be distracted during these meetings. A lot is riding on the decisions you’ll be making here. I’d rather you make them while comfortable under actual warm clothes and not whatever coating of flame you have going.”

“But-!”

“I’m sure it’s an excellent Firebending technique but you said you want the best for the Fire Nation, yeah? Then as Ambassador, I am advising you to go into those meetings with a clear mind – which means you have to be comfortable! Now put on the parka and let’s go before your uncle starts believing whatever suspicion Min has shared with him. You know how he gets.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was wrong! I managed to quickly write this. There was a burst of writing energy when I settled that I don't have to write for the prompts I missed before writing for the current ones. I'll write them later!!!


	16. #16 Forced to share a hotel room / Enemies

**#16**

**Feb 25: Forced to share a hotel room**

**May 25: Enemies**

Zuko and Katara made it to the meeting hall and managed to catch Iroh whispering with Min. Min tensed at the sight of the two approaching, suddenly standing stock still next to the seated general.

“Good morning to you two,” Iroh greeted jovially. “Sit next to me, Fire Lord Zuko. The scribe who came with us will have an easier time if we sat together. You too, Master Katara. You’re representing Fire and Southern Water relations after all.”

There was no room for disagreement nor any kind of explanation for any assumption that Min might have already told Iroh. Zuko and Katara took seats on either side of Iroh.

The meeting had started off quite diplomatically. They were supposed to be defining maritime boundaries and everyone’s proposals seemed to be agreeable with each other’s. The diplomacy seemed to wear off when they began discussing the presence of Fire Nation navy ships on international and local waters. More than a year into Zuko’s ascent to the throne and subsequent order to end the war, some factions were still resistant to the new order. There were still some ten navy ships that haven’t reported back to the capital harbour for reassignment. Now the leaders were reporting recent activity from these ships – threatening smaller fishing vessels and docking on vulnerable ports where they blackmail residents for supplies.

A union of leaders from Earth Kingdom coast cities were now suggesting to throw Katara at them before the wayward crews got any braver.

Katara was inclined to agree. Zuko wasn’t.

“Zuko, are you stupid! You know I _can_ take on a navy ship and without putting lives on the line!”

“Excuse me, _Ambassador_ Katara, but as their Fire Lord I ought to give a warning first before going in.”

“Then the residents on the coasts – do they have to fend for themselves?” Katara answered sharply.

“No, I plan to send out loyal ships to patrol their coastline until the dissenters dock back in the capital themselves.”

“With all due respect, _Fire Lord_ Zuko, that could take months!”

“Months I’m willing to wait!” Zuko answered back.

“And do you think Earth residents will feel any safer seeing the same Fire Nation ships that were threatening them now patrol their waters? What do you think, King Kuei?” Katara turned to the young king.

Kuei looked flustered at suddenly being put on the spot. Arnook took notice and immediately called for a break after the escalation, asking Katara and Zuko to come with him. If she were being honest, Katara felt like a child in that moment.

Arnook brought them to his office, but promptly leaving to fetch food and drinks from the kitchens. A few minutes into being left alone, Arnook was yet to be back and Katara and Zuko still refused to speak with each other. Katara still huffed and puffed about while pretending to look at the titles on the shelves. Zuko comfortably sat down on the thick fur carpet.

“Katara, you know I don’t want anyone to suffer any more or any longer for this.”

Katara sighed. Yes, she knew. But other than these dissenters’ pride, she didn’t know what else they were saving by waiting months to resolve the issue. “I know. But if you’re just afraid of hurting their feelings, I can’t agree with waiting.”

“No, Katara, it’s not just their feelings. They have to learn why they have to stand down and how to make a life post-war. I’d really like to talk to them first, let them see what it could be like if they return. Jobs aren’t exactly waiting for them, but we’re trying to work on it…”

At the mention of jobs, something clicked in Katara.

“The patrols, if the stray ships decide to resist, you’ll call back some of the crews? You’re a good Fire Lord for thinking about them, Zuko. But if in three months those ships are not docked back in the capital, I’m getting Aang and we’re _gently_ towing them on their return.”

Katara hoped to say it with a decent finality, but when she tried to exit, the door was locked from the outside. Katara stared at it. She could easily bend her way out, but was it worth further annoying Arnook just to have the last word with Zuko?

Zuko turned to where she was standing. By now he’s used to her supposedly ending conversations but suddenly stopping at the door to discuss one final thing. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s locked,” she answered plainly.

“The walls are made of ice. Between the Avatar’s Waterbending and Firebending teachers, an escape would be easy. But I assume Chief Arnook locked us up as some sort of tactic to reconcile. I say let the man believe that it’s working. Come sit with me, Katara, I think he’ll be back soon.”

“Only if you agree to take the dissenters in three months.”

“We’ll figure out the timeline with the Earth Kingdom.”

“Fine,” she said softly, before heading to sit on the carpet too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am soooooo behind on the prompts. I'm sorry.


	17. #17 Aurora borealis / Summer camp

**#17**

**Feb 21: Aurora borealis**

**May 21: Summer Camp**

It turned out that one of the reasons the Fire Lord had voted to hold the first peace summit in the North Pole was that he so desperately wanted to see the aurorae. Katara found it amusing, but also stupid of him. Because too bad, it was almost the peak of summer at the pole. Holding the summit any other time of the year in the Northern Water Tribe was a death wish on the world leaders who were unaccustomed to the harsh polar winds. So while their genius scheduling meant a comfortable level of cold, it also meant almost round the clock sunlight, which meant no northern lights for Zuko to see.

Katara suspected that the fact only skipped his mind, _surely his royal studies included polar climates,_ in combination with not so helpful circumstances. The weather had been gloomy since their arrival, so while the sun was out all day, clouds covered most of the sky. The welcome banquet had started late afternoon the day before and had taken place entirely inside the large ice palace. Zuko must have missed that the sun did not set outside.

Katara didn’t know how to break it to him. He looked quite excited to be done with the first day of meetings so that he can go off and watch the lights. Katara saw him stand up from his seat. Then he was walking over to her – she _had_ to tell him now.

“Katara, would you like to see the northern lights together after dinner?”

“Are you stupid?” As soon as she blurted it out, her hands flew to cover her mouth. What was wrong with her, calling the Fire Lord stupid more than twice today, and only on the first day of a summit with all other world leaders?

Zuko looked unbothered at first. Katara supposed, from all the times she had disagreed with him at today’s meetings, he had grown used to both her veiled and blatant insults. So instead of seeing an offended look on her boyfriend’s face, it was a quick series of confusion, realization, and finally, disappointment. Katara knew he was holding in a pout.

“Oh, Zuko, I’m so sorry. We’ll find time to come here during an equinox, ok? That’s when they’re the brightest.”

Zuko nodded and with a soft chuckle, added, “I think I’m pretty bad about the seasons and weather.”

“You’ve made some questionable decisions, yes," Katara agreed. "Come on, the clouds cleared up. We can watch the sun not set."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's another chapter featuring aurora!


	18. #18 Dao Swords / Matchmaker Iroh

**#18**

**Feb 14: Dao Swords**

**May 14: Matchmaker Iroh**

Iroh was definitely pleased at all of Zuko and Katara’s interactions he had witnessed during the summit. Including the bickering, yes. Now, to ensure that this goes in the right direction. It was going to be the closing banquet soon and delegates would be leaving the next day on separate ships. He knew from his nephew that Katara was taking a short break from her ambassador role and was going back to the Southern Water Tribe and thus would be leaving on a separate ship from them. He had to act now.

He retrieved the sheathed swords from his traveller’s chest and promptly exited his room, intent on catching either one of Zuko or Katara in the banquet hall. It was just his excellent luck, immediately spotting them as soon as he entered. They were out in the veranda, talking.

“Good evening, Fire Lord Zuko, Master Katara,” Iroh greeted jovially.

“Uncle, good evening.”

“General Iroh, have you gotten something to eat?”

“Oh, dinner can wait, Master Katara. I have something to give you first.” Iroh unsheathed one of the two dao. “Master Piandao made these from the same meteorite as your brother’s sword.”

“Uncle!” came Zuko’s protest.

“But General-!” Katara tried to interrupt.

Iroh knew that there would be some opposition. “It’s not at all my intention to insult your bending. I only had the thought that if you were to pick up a non-bending skill, it would be swordsmanship. I think your brother would enjoy teaching you while you’re down south. And once you’re back in Caldera City, Zuko can continue teaching you, right, nephew?”

Zuko answered his uncle’s insinuating look with a small frown. _Dear nephew, I’m trying to help you with the lady here. Take a hint._

“Y-yes, of course.”

“Will you accept it, Master Katara?”

Katara took the proffered swords, inspecting the one already unsheathed. “Thank you very much, General Iroh. These are beautifully crafted. I doubt the beginner that I am can truly appreciate it now. I’ll learn to the best of my ability!”

“Do not worry, dear. I am confident you will learn much from Zuko. But if it turns out that the dual broadswords are not the right fit, I’m sure you’ll find someone who would make better use of them.”

He spared a look in Zuko’s direction. His eyes were wide, scandalized at the very open suggestion. Oh, sometimes his nephew can be utterly clueless.

Of course he was suggesting him. One, because Master Piandao had sent the swords with him fully confident that they would be the Fire Lord’s new go-to dao. Iroh resolved to let his old friend know that the gift was taking a small detour. But if Katara takes to the swords – well, if he recalled Fire Nation property laws correctly, what is Zuko’s would be Katara’s and what is Katara’s would be Zuko’s anyway when the two of them marry. Iroh was sure they would, his attempt at matchmaking today was only an extra bit of insurance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm till writing for prompts that I missed! I will write all of them, I promise!


	19. #19 You're in love with him/her / Storm

**#19**

**Feb 24: You’re in love with him/her**

**May 24: Storm**

The trip from the North Pole back to the capital was to be spent below deck, it seemed. Zuko thought It would have been bearable if Katara was around. But she was travelling with her family and on her way home to the Southern Water Tribe. Meanwhile, he was stuck with his uncle while a storm raged outside.

Zuko wasn’t entirely opposed to it, of course. Iroh had travelled separately from Ba Sing Se for the peace summit and the two of them hadn’t really caught up with each other amidst all the meetings. The only thing that truly irked Zuko was Iroh’s prying into his relationship with Katara. He had already admonished his uncle for the very nosy display he pulled with the dao swords before parting ways at the port.

Zuko hoped Iroh might have other things to discuss, like check in on the rest of the family, but immediately after pouring their tea his uncle went straight right in. “Tell me, nephew, is it true that you intend to marry Master Katara?”

It was a good thing the teacup had barely touched his lips when Iroh asked. He would have spat the tea if it was already inside his mouth. Then, Iroh would be offended and he’d be forced to share more than he intended to just to appease him. He set the cup back down on the low table. “Uncle, I don’t know where you heard that but marriage hasn’t been brought up in any of our conversations. The world is still recovering, I’m the Fire Lord, I just turned eighteen and Katara’s barely sixteen–“

“I didn’t mean _now,_ dear nephew,” Iroh countered.

That stopped Zuko in his tirade. _Did_ he want to marry Katara eventually? A life with Katara rushed to the forefront of his mind. A wedding – or two, if they decide to do it in each other's traditions. Raising a son or a daughter, maybe children. Watching and helping them grow as the two of them grow old too.

“This storm is really bad, do you think we’ll still make the trip a week?” Zuko knew it was a poor exercise in diversion.

Iroh’s loud laughter made it obvious that he knew that too. “Oh, Zuko. I recall your letters, you know. You always seem to be writing them when a storm is passing the capital. You try to cover it with being reminded by our muddy travels on foot through the Earth Kingdom. I am not surprised anymore when the next sentence is about a certain Water Tribe girl.” There was no denying it. But Zuko would still attempt at downplaying it, so Iroh continued. “When we met again after the comet, you practically gushed about bending the rain, you know. Rain not much different from what’s outside now. You wrote me after your first date, too. The one ruined by heavy rain. You also wrote about the hot summer day when the children at the orphanage asked for a light rain to cool down and she made it happen. And about the little showers she’d make when helping Hana out in the gardens. And the time your mother-“

“Okay, okay, Uncle. I get it.”

“Do you, Zuko? That you’re completely in love with her?”

He does get it because he definitely was. In love with Katara, that is. He was in love in all the ways Iroh had just enumerated and more. But in this moment, he was determined to be silent. He thought it was unfair to Katara, for him to first admit it to his uncle.

“I understand if you’re not ready to say it out loud yet. I think too that Katara would appreciate it if she was the first to hear.” Iroh took a sip from his cup and chuckled softly. “But don’t you forget that I was the first to know. Even before you. I do enjoy making you realize things, Zuko."


	20. #20 Balance / Moonbeam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to catch up on my missed days. This chapter is for Day 12 of the Zutara month prompts.

**#20**

**Feb 12: Balance**

**May 12: Moonbeam**

Out of the five years that Katara acted as dignitary between the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation, Zuko spent three of them in a serious relationship with her. While those years have been when the two of them grew into leaders of their new world, Zuko relished more in the more mundane moments they shared. For example, the sparring they did every day.

Today was no exception. After finishing the dinner that had been brought to his office, Zuko headed to the former Agni Kai chamber. On one of her visits, Toph had offered to destroy the original chamber where Zuko’s Agni Kai with his father had been held. When Zuko had accepted, he had only expected her to demolish the stage and seating and clear out the rubble after. But Toph had roped their other friends along and had the chamber completely rebuilt into a training arena for all kinds of combative bending. Since then, it had grown to become his favourite part of the palace.

For weeks after Azula had been cleared by her doctors to bend again, he trained with her every day here, learning and developing new techniques with his prodigy sister. When Kiyi had shown latent Firebending abilities, this is the first place he took her and he and Azula taught her all the basic forms. Whenever Uncle Iroh or Aang and Toph had visited, he practiced bending with them here. But the nights… The arena was open for use to anyone already inside the palace grounds, but there was an unspoken rule that it had to be left for Fire Lord Zuko and Master Katara’s use as soon as the dinner plates had been cleared.

Zuko enjoyed discussing with Katara intricacies of inter-national relations but he would always prefer the physical sparring in the arena than the verbal sparring in the meeting rooms. Although, he had to thank one of those tedious meetings for leading to this sparring habit of theirs. A trade deal negotiation had been running long and Zuko ordered a break, for their guests to at least have dinner. He didn’t care for food though, finding himself taking a walk outside instead. Katara also had had the same idea of a break apparently and when she had seen his obvious stress, she invited him “to blow off some steam” and dragged him to the arena.

It’s been many days now since that first night but Zuko truly felt that neither of them tired of challenging each other. It’s been months since he had come to that realization, months he spent carving a new jewel for her necklace. He now held the flat, circular onyx, the engraved centre of which was filled with a gold coil, the bright full moon against the midnight sky. He still wasn’t sure how he was going about it, but he meant to propose marriage to her tonight.

He arrived at the arena, where she was already bending water in and out of the deep moat surrounding the sand-filled stage. Zuko thought that it was perfect that the moon was full tonight, symbolisms and all, but it meant fighting her would be a little tougher. He guessed though that the little humiliation he would suffer would very much be outweighed if she says yes to his proposal. Besides, if anyone had been counting wins, they’d know that it didn’t really matter whether it was a full moon. The two of them would be on almost the same number of wins, Katara’s own victories spread across all the different phases of the moon.

He lit the wall sconces to announce his presence. Once Katara turned to the entrance he greeted her, “How was your day?”

“Not too busy, I’d say. I had time to visit the orphanage. Kaito was visiting too. It’s his first break from Ba Sing Se University. I hope you don’t mind me asking him to visit us here before he goes back.”

“No, of course not. I think I’d like to hear about his shenanigans there. He and Toph entered at the same time, right?”

The thought seemed to rattle Katara. Kaito had been a mischievous pre-teen while in the orphanage, meeting Toph while away unsupervised by adults would’ve fostered more of that mischief. “He didn’t seem to have any crazy stories about a blind earthbender when he talked to the younger kids. And Toph attended for only a couple of weeks anyway. She said she only meant to pick up basic architecture and then be on her merry way.”

Zuko paused, considering. Their friend was the type to just get what she needed for the meantime and then go. “Then I can rest assured that our Kaito is only his usual mischievous self and not any worse.”

“Toph isn’t a bad influence,” Katara chided. “She built you this arena, remember?”

“Then let’s thank her by stopping with the talking and getting on with the sparring?” No verbal agreement from Katara, only the rush of water he sensed coming from behind him. Just in the nick of time, he was able to evaporate the wall of water, a technique he had learned from Azula in this same arena. It had taken him a while to master, after first learning it only on stagnant water.

Their sparring went on for an hour before Zuko claimed exhaustion. The more relevant truth though was that he was too nervous about the proposal to the point he can’t focus much on bending. Exhausted or nervous, he felt lying down on the damp sand was his best option now.

From his right, he saw Katara approach. He didn’t think it was to first apologize. “Sorry, I didn’t realize… Ugh, I didn’t even ask you how your day went, did I?”

“Hm, I don’t think so?” Zuko asked back. “Doesn’t matter.”

“How many times have I told you that it does matter? Well then, on with it – how was your day?”

“Not too busy either. Azula was here on official business, about her school. It was all fine until she had the idea to practice Firebending at high noon. She rarely visits, the school is taking up much of her time, so I indulged her.”

“You’re a good brother, Zuko. I assume that took a lot of energy?” Katara prompted, moving to begin healing his sore muscles.

“Does it tell you something if I say she’s regularly beating Uncle now?”

Katara winced, that explained the nasty knots she’s tracing on him. Once she was done with his legs, she moved to his left arm. Zuko panicked, the jewel he carved for her was on a black velvet rope he had tied on his left wrist before coming here. _Let her find it._

When she was tracing chi towards his left hand, she felt the tiny solid mass. It instantly worried her and she quickly pulled his sleeve back. A pause. “Zuko, what’s this?”

He untied the rope from his wrist while she moved to lay his head on her lap. “Katara, I know it’s Northern tradition to carve a necklace for this-“

“You’re asking me to marry you?” Katara interrupted.

He chuckled. He had imagined that this would go in a more roundabout way than Katara asking him if he was asking she marry him.

“Well, yes. I don’t have a whole speech planned but I hoped to say something?” he said, unsure. He handed her the necklace.

Katara took it and smiled gently down at him. “Hm, whatever you say, my answer would be the same.”

That gave him some relief. His comfort and confidence grew at the sight of the full moon through the open ceiling of the arena. “You’re like the moon to me, you know? The moon with the tides. With the way you push me to do things I doubt I can do, the way you pull me back to you when I go far down one direction… I love you, Katara, you always make me want to become a better person. With you around, I feel the most balanced. I only dare to hope that I’m the same to you. What do you think about growing old and growing together with me for the rest of the time the spirits granted us in this world?”

Katara leaned down to kiss him softly. “I think I only told you once before. In the Southern Water Tribe, we believe in soulmates. Although I never told you this – I’ve been convinced for a while that you’re mine.”

“I’d like to be yours forever.”

She laughed. “My soulmate, I mean. I feel the same way, Zuko. The moon, the tides. You make me want to become a better person, too. I love you and I’d love to spend the rest of my life with you.”


	21. #21 Folktale / Hidden

**#21**

**Feb 13: Folktale**

**May 13: Hidden**

It’s not long after they had agreed to marry post-spar that the rest of the world knew about Zuko and Katara’s upcoming nuptials.

First, out went the letters to inform their friends and family all over the world. It seemed that all of them were already high with baby fever. The messenger hawk that flew to the Western Air Temple came back with Aang’s congratulations and a promise to take Katara and Zuko’s children flying on Appa. The next ship from Ba Sing Se that docked on their harbour carried a small chest bearing the symbol of the Jasmine Dragon. In the letter that accompanied it, Iroh explained that all the tea blends inside were good for fertility and “other related things.” Sokka’s reply included well wishes from Suki, Hakoda, and Gran Gran. It was a simple, heart-warming congratulations up until that last line about southern wedding traditions and looking forward to great-grandkids. The only “normal” response they had was from the Beifongs. Normal, insofar as they received congratulations. They had sent the letter to the Beifong Estate, assuming Toph was also there for her bending school. Poppy and Lao informed them though that if they wanted to reach Toph, they had to send a letter to Ba Sing Se University, addressed to one Kaito from Caldera City.

The two of them informed Zuko’s immediate family personally. As soon as they finished at the arena, in fact. Azula was set to leave the next morning and was staying with Ursa’s family so it was optimal for telling them all at once. Ursa and Noren congratulated them warmly while Kiyi was obvious with her excitement about calling Katara her sister. Nobody expected Azula to be the one excited about being an aunt. Her passion for teaching seemed to surface even more, at the thought that surely one of Zuko and Katara’s children will be a Firebender. She shared her hopes that it would be a girl, so that she would attend her school.

Then on their next scheduled visit to the orphanage, they informed the children. They promised them guaranteed invitations to the wedding, saying they could make a field trip out of the ceremony that was going to be held at the new Fire Temples.

As soon as all the important people in their personal lives were informed, an official announcement was sent out. Even if Zuko and Katara had already been in a serious relationship for years, some nobles still held onto the idea that it was all a farce for inter-national relations and eventually the Fire Lord will marry someone from their own nation’s nobility. News of their engagement crushed this hope for the most of them but a few remained convinced. One was even challenging the legality of their marriage, citing a Fire Lady _had_ to be from the Fire Nation.

This one noble was the reason they were at the law library on a supposedly free day, helping their legal counsel Yu go through hundreds of years of Fire Nation legislation. One of Zuko’s advisors had told them to find records of at least one Fire Lord who married outside the Fire Nation, the more recent, the better. So far, the search had been futile. Among their findings were two large crates labelled “Folktales”, which was oddly in the law library, hidden behind a shelf of scrolls about educational reforms.

The crates had caught Katara’s attention. Most of Water Tribe folklore were passed down in the oral tradition, so it fascinated her that the Fire Nation had this much written down. When the elderly councillor called for a break for tea and cookies at least, Zuko offered to prepare a simple ceremony as a token of thanks to their legal advisor. While Zuko went to the adjoining kitchen off the side of the library, Katara asked permission to open the labelled crates.

With a little Waterbending on the locks, she was able to open the first one and soon after, the other. Digging into the scrolls inside the first, she noted the much older parchment. Yellowing on sides, with some batons already rotting. Katara carefully unrolled one, a folktale about the creation of their world. As she read it, she was surprised at the similarity to the stories she heard as a child. After reading the next three scrolls, all about the four nations, she supposed the scrolls in the first crate were all about harmonious co-existence between the nations.

Katara moved on to the next crate, a mixed bag of scrolls that were much newer and some leather-bound codices. She opened to a random page of an untitled codex, to be greeted by an illustration of two benders mid-stance, earth and fire. At first Katara thought that they were engaged in battle but at the centre of the page was a beautifully white tea pot. When Katara read on, she learned that it was a folktale about the origins of the art of making porcelain. The particular codex she picked up contained more such stories, the founding of industries and arts that required more than one kind of bending. Now she understood why it was hidden behind educational reforms. The war had to be started and kept going on the lie that the Fire Nation and their bending were superior. These could be the last copies of such texts in the Fire Nation.

Zuko came back with the full tea set he found in the kitchen and set it down on one of the few large tables in the library. “Katara, come on, let’s have some tea.”

Katara got up from her smaller table and took another codex from the second crate to read while they had tea.

“Did you find anything useful, Master Katara?” Yu asked.

“I figured why these crates were hidden. There’s a lot of stories of Fire Nation cooperation with the other nations.”

“Maybe we’ll find something about a marriage?” Zuko asked hopefully.

“They’re folktales, Zuko. I don’t think they’ll hold much ground if that pesky noble came up with an official decree about the Fire Lady role.”

“Does such a decree really exist?” Zuko asked Yu.

“Not in this library, at least. Of all my years reading through these, I recall that the only requirement to hold the office of Fire Lady is to be married to the Fire Lord. But the older families have their own libraries and they might have letters between ancestors about court goings-on, suggesting about restrictions on the Fire Lady.”

Zuko served tea, sighing.

Katara opened the codex she took with her to the table. Coincidentally, it was a compilation of inter-national love stories. There were several and it intrigued her what kind of person would be so romantic as to put these all together. She flipped to the first few pages of the book and found the dedication.

_The stories we’ll tell our children_

_Chaeryu_

Something akin to hope burned in her. The name seemed familiar. From where did she heard or read it?

“Was there a Fire Lord named Chaeryu?”

“Chaeryu of the green fields,” Yu answered. “If I recall correctly, he was eight or nine generations before you, Fire Lord Zuko.”

“Why, Katara?”

“Look at this book. It’s full of stories of love between two people from different nations. It’s signed Chaeryu.”

“Yu, what do you know about Fire Lord Chaeryu’s family?”

“Forgive me, Fire Lord, I’m not too sure about his personal history. I know that his wife was named Sen and they had three children. His agricultural reforms led to many years of bountiful harvests. They were quite well-informed reforms too. Chaeryu travelled a lot to the Earth Kingdom to learn about their farming. It was noted that he traveled often with his family, despite the security risks.”

Katara and Zuko shared a look. “Could Fire Lady Sen be from the Earth Kingdom?”

Yu answered, “If you’d like to check in the Royal Family archives, I will finish up here, Fire Lord Zuko, Master Katara.”

They finish tea and Zuko and Katara headed back to the palace. “If Sen really was from the Earth Kingdom... Eight generations ago is recent enough, right?”

“If she isn’t, or if she is and eight generations isn’t recent enough, I’d still find a way to marry you, Katara.”

It turned out that Zuko didn’t have to find a way. At least for the case that Sen wasn’t from the Earth Kingdom. The newer Royal Family register, originally commissioned by Sozin, listed Sen as the great-great-great granddaughter of a rich Fire Nation merchant. Upon checking the older register though, they found out that while the newer listing was true, her “Fire Nation-ness” went only as far as her merchant ancestor. The merchant apparently married into an Earth Kingdom family whose village welcomed him and his gold into bettering their farms. He continued to trade the harvest between Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, but his sons would choose to keep the business within closer cities whose populations steadily grew larger. Sen grew up in a traditional Earth Kingdom family and was an Earth Kingdom citizen through and through, with barely the Fire Nation ethnicity. She and Chaeryu met while studying in Ba Sing Se University and based on records of their life there hadn’t been any opposition to their eventual marriage.

That had given Zuko and Katara a bit of reprieve. At least there was one Fire Lord they can cite if the older families somehow came up something to challenge their own marriage.

With that out of the way, Katara decided to bring up her other interest from today. “Zuko, those crates…”

“I don’t know how we missed them when we were getting education reforms passed a few years back. But those books will be put back in circulation as soon as possible. Cooperation with other nations is a large part of Fire Nation history and culture and now’s the best time to let the people know about it again.”

“And Chaeryu’s book, I hope you don’t mind us having a copy in the palace library.”

Zuko looked up to her. In their lamp-lit corner of the archives, her face was softly glowing. “’ _The stories we’ll tell our children’_?” Zuko quoted Chaeryu’s note. In the few weeks that they’d been engaged, the specific details of children were yet to be discussed. Both of them had agreed long ago though that children were a certain part of their future together.

“Yes,” Katara agreed confidently. “I think all the baby talk from our family is getting to my head already.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk how this one went longer than the usual


	22. #22 Ancient / Blush

**#22**

**Feb 28: Ancient**

**May 28: Blush**

Zuko and Katara may have taken a win with Fire Lord Cheryu’s records but it didn’t stop their legal adviser Yu from still bringing back up plans for defending their upcoming marriage. Thus explained Yu’s presence at their breakfast table on a court holiday. He brought along a scroll that looked like it would disintegrate at a light touch. He handled it with more care than he probably would handle a baby. A baby, like the one he was suggesting the Fire Lord and a Master Waterbender have as soon as possible.

Given what exactly they were up to before coming to breakfast, the couple were blushing to the roots of their hair.

“What you’re suggesting is we announce a pregnancy and this obscure law from over five hundred years ago will essentially force me to marry Katara?” Zuko clarified, still refusing to believe the suggestion.

“It doesn’t even have to be real!” Yu tried to backtrack. “You can have a healer go to court to confirm it and then claim miscarriage after-”

“No,” Katara interrupted. She seemed to have gathered back her composure. “We won’t lie to our people like that. No.”

“Then you’re willing to make it real? You can count on one hand the Fire Lords born almost out of wedlock and many traditional families might look down on your first child…” Yu explained.

“In that case, it seems like forcing acceptance of our marriage is still pointless.” Zuko concluded. “No, Yu, we’ll stick to Chaeryu’s records. I won’t have the Fire Nation think of our child less in exchange for a flimsy excuse to be merely allowed to get married.”

Zuko was stern for the both of them, so Katara decided to take a softer approach. Yu was well-meaning but sometimes he leaned more into the letter of the law. “Yu, I think it will be fine. There’s only a few families left to convince. We’re already checking their connections to Fire Lord Chaeryu’s rule. If there’s anything, it may be enough to pull them a little to our side.”

“Master Katara, I envy your confidence in Fire Nation nobility.”

“She is forgiving like that,” Zuko seconded. “Is there anything else, Yu? We’d like to get on with breakfast.”

Yu stood from his place. “No, no, Your Highness, Master Katara. I’ll take my leave now. ”

Katara chuckled. “He meant all of us. The attendant will be bringing a set for you. Yu, please stay. We really do appreciate your hard work and honest advice.”


	23. #23 Crown / Home

**#23**

**Feb 29: Crown**

**May 29: Home**

Iroh was among the many people who had deemed it prudent to arrive early in the capital for Zuko and Katara’s wedding. In the past few days the couple had been very busy welcoming guests, both political and personal, even if it was still a little over two weeks before the ceremonies began. Only now was he able to catch one of them free. It was perfect that Katara was the one he could speak with first.

“Thank you very much for joining me for tea, dear,” he began. She had insisted she be the one to go to his corner of the palace. She had cited his exhaustion from the days-long trip, but he knew she was also concerned his aging bones.

“It’s no problem, Uncle. Did you want to discuss something?” Her directness reminded Iroh of his time at court. Not that the nobles had been direct, only that he had to be if he wanted any fruitful discussion. Katara must have mastered the art already.

He poured tea for Katara. “I wanted to give you your wedding gift.”

“Then Zuko must be here, too.” She was almost up to her feet before Iroh interrupted.

“I meant _yours_ , Katara. My wedding gift for the both of you is already at the banquet hall with the rest of them. This is yours.” He placed the cloth-covered object on the table. Next to Katara’s teacup, it only looked slightly bigger.

Katara uncovered a crown beneath the cloth. It looked almost like the crown prince's headpiece Zuko had shown her before. A prong on each side, resting on the thin silver circlet meant to go around a top-knot. Only the prongs were softer, almost a wave instead of bursting flame, and instead of gold, the metal was dark. “Did Master Piandao make this? From the meteor?”

“Yes, mostly. I had to put in some labor too. You might notice the two prongs aren’t exactly alike.” Iroh laughed. “After not giving those dao swords directly to my nephew, Piandao hadn’t entertained any requests from me without me doing part of the work.”

“It’s a crown. My crown? The Fire Lady doesn’t wear a crown different from her children.”

“Which is ridiculous. The Fire Lady deserves her own crown, don’t you think?”

Katara only hesitated for a moment until the words spilled out after a deep sigh. “There are so many expectations attached to the office of Fire Lady, Uncle. While we were looking for ways around the other families’ opposition to our marriage, I read on past Fire Ladies too. A lot of them married into the royal family to consolidate power, yes, but many of them were very admirable women in their own right. It’s such a shame that they’re overshadowed by their husbands’ successes and even misdeeds.”

“But you know a crown won’t solve all that, Katara.”

Another deep sigh. “I know.”

“Yet its first bearer will have the pleasure of making the history that first goes with it. It’s a heavy yoke to bear but you’ve done a lot for the Fire Nation already and I know you have more planned. My only wish is that you always think of home, both the one you grew up in and this one you have here with Zuko. There is more under there, dear.”

Katara pushed flat the rest of the cloth that once covered the crown. An assortment of beads and fastening clips made from the same meteorite-iron. Some of them were plain bands, others lightly bejeweled. A wide, child-like smile bloomed on her face. “For my loopies!”

“On one of my recent visits to the South, I had a chance to sit and talk with Kanna. She misses you terribly and recalls very fondly you staying there for months at a time while rebuilding.”

“I always write them…”

“I know, but she misses you nonetheless. Zuko also writes me letters. That doesn’t stop me from wishing he was simply with me in Ba Sing Se. Part of my wait staff instead of here dealing with assassination attempts and problems borne of our family’s mistakes. Kanna must want something like that for you, too. She worries.”

Katara moved over to sit next to Iroh. “I miss them so much, Uncle.” Her voice was weak. “Whenever I went back, part of me always wanted to stay for longer, for forever. But I don’t turn my back on people who need me. We’re a growing community down in the South, but still small enough that my father and Sokka can handle matters smoothly. Here… I’ve seen what the Fire Nation has done to itself with the war even before all of it was over. I’m happy to be here. Here is where I think I can help the most. Your nephew isn’t too bad to have around, either.”

Iroh turned to her, smiled, and hugged her. “I don’t know why the spirits chose to bless us with you, after all our nation’s faults against yours. Thank you so much, Katara.”

Katara hugged back just as fiercely. “We’re all making amends as best as we could.”

When they let go, Katara began fixing her hair in a top-knot. “I’d like to show Zuko when we meet for lunch,” she said simply. "Will you help put on the headpiece?"

"Of course, dear. Anything to see my nephew stunned by you."


	24. #24 Soulmates / Wisdom

**#24**

**Feb 7: Soulmates**

**May 7: Wisdom**

Ursa did not hold back on the Fire Nation-ness of Zuko and Katara’s royal wedding. Naturally then, when Gran Gran was amidst of it all, she decided that her previous concession to hold a simple Southern Water Tribe wedding was null and void. To be fair, Zuko’s advisors had insisted on the grandiose displays of Fire Nation culture in order to appease the still lingering resentment over the Fire Lord marrying an outsider – a Waterbender, even! And so there were elaborate tea ceremonies, fireworks displays every night for a week, the day-long wedding at the recently re-built Fire Temple, and a parade of the newlyweds through Capital City.

The ceremony under the southern lights in the middle of winter initially agreed on, suddenly became a plan for another week-long celebration. Gran Gran tried to pass it off as not wanting to waste the visitors’ long voyage down to the South Pole. This is how Zuko finds himself on a fishing vessel out on the icy waters of the South Pole, two days before his wedding. He and the group of men from Katara’s tribe, including her father, have been out at sea for three days now. The expedition was one of the non-negotiable activities on Gran Gran’s itinerary. They were just able to haul in a whale-walrus, quite a good catch for a pre-wedding trip. Now they are making their way back to port and expecting to arrive by dawn. Zuko, while always appreciative of the time spent learning about her tribe, already terribly misses Katara.

“Can’t sleep?” Hakoda pipes in beside him.

“Hard to sleep without Katara, to be honest,” Zuko answers. There is no use maintaining a façade of unconsummated marriage, even though they are yet to be married in both cultures and considering that it is no secret that Zuko and Katara have been sharing quarters since becoming betrothed.

“I know the feeling. The first night Kya was truly gone, after we lay her to rest – it was very unsettling. She was my soulmate, you know. And for many years we went to sleep and woke up together. To suddenly have that taken away…”

“I’m sorry.”

Hakoda huffs, “Every time Kya comes up in conversation, you say that. The only time you don’t is when Katara is around. I’ll say to you what she probably drilled into you already, it wasn’t your fault.”

“I know. But it bears repeating that it was in fact the Fire Nation’s fault.”

“It’s not what I wanted to discuss with you, anyway. I meant to share some wisdom. Because back in your ceremonies, the Fire Sages were piping about reading in the flames that you and Katara are fated to be. Soulmates.”

“I don’t know if what they said is true, or if they read the political situation correctly and sprinkled that into the blessing to appease remaining opposition to our marriage,” Zuko confesses.

“Then you’ll quickly understand that for the Water tribes, soulmates aren’t found. Maybe because at one, you’ve already met all of your tribe, and before you’re an adult, you’ve already been around all the neighbouring tribes. Here, son, soulmates are _made_. Kya and I met and played together as children but both of us made nothing of it. We met again as teenagers later, during a wedding celebration just like yours. That’s when we got along and decide to get to work building a relationship. Don’t think that just because you’re already married that the work is done.”

“No, I never thought that!” reacts Zuko. “If anything, getting married means that more work needs to be done. I have vowed to Agni, soon to Tui and La, but most importantly vowed to Katara, that our wedding is only be the first step to becoming our best selves through each other.”

Hakoda does not recall such words being exchanged at the Fire Temple.

Zuko notices his questioning glance. “I suppose I understand your concern, if you’re only going by the very public vows we made in the capital. Those were written for us, as you might suspect. But the morning of the wedding, before the breakfast with both families, Katara and I made our personal vows to each other. _‘To grow old and grow together.’_ ”

“But you two have always been saying that to each other, at least since you proposed to her,” Hakoda observes.

The memory of that night is clear to Zuko. “You’re right, Hakoda. It is what I offered Katara and what she said yes to and now what we promise each other every day. Our wedding day in the capital was no exception. When we rise on the day of our ceremony here, we will say the same words.”

Hakoda heartily chuckles, clapping Zuko on the back. “I guess I really have nothing to worry about then. Katara knew only to say yes to a Water Tribe soulmate, after all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The soulmate concept Hakoda talks about here is lifted almost word for word from The Good Place. "If soulmates do exist, they're not found. They're made. People meet, they get a good feeling, and then they get to work building a relationship."
> 
> I am very sorry that this is late!


	25. #25 Agni Kai / Movie Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I'm trying to keep all snippets in the same timeline/universe, I interpreted movie night as theatre night. Please forgive me.

**#25**

**Feb 8: Agni Kai**

**May 8: Movie Night**

Tonight Zuko and Katara are at the Ember Island Theatre with their friends. They only meant to spend a few days at the beach. Missing the sand constantly featured in Aang’s letters and so when all of them had some free time, they were quick to agree to meet on Ember Island. Swimming and a campfire by the beach were definitely in their plans, but the premiere of _Competition Between the Dragons_ was not. It was Sokka and Suki again that find the poster, obviously a play on _Love Amongst the Dragons_ , which boasted an accurate retelling of the famous day of Sozin’s Comet. All of them scoff at the description, cringing at the memories of the last "accurate" play they’ve seen on the island. But they all agree to watch it anyway, ironically, they said.

Currently the play is reaching its climax. Aang pouted a little that his fight with Ozai is being brushed aside in favour of the titular Agni Kai between Zuko and Azula. The troupe’s special effects are as dazzling as ever, staging displays of Zuko’s red and Azula’s blue fire blasts much to the audience’s entertainment. 

When actor-Azula shoots the lightning, actor-Zuko is lifted into the air and is made to look jumping in front of actor-Katara in slow motion. The stretched gasp from the audience makes it more dramatic. Actor-Katara, even years later, is still tear-bending. Devastated at Zuko hit by lightning? Tear-bending. Defeating Azula? Tear-bending. Healing Zuko’s injury? Tear-bending again. Amidst the tear-bending, actor-Katara is vocal about her concern and love for Zuko, too, more to Katara’s embarrassment.

_“Nooooooooooooo!”_

_“Azula! How dare you hurt my boyfriend?”_

_“Zuko, please don’t die, I love you!”_

By this time, all their friends are teasing Katara.

“Dear spirits, he was already your boyfriend then, Katara? Then why did you kiss me outside the Jasmine Dragon?” Aang teases.

Toph jumps in, “Given how things ended up being, I think I’ll take this play instead of your boring retellings any day.”

“So love is really what gets my sister’s bending up and about, huh?”

“Tui and La, this is so embarrassing! Citizens will witness this portrayal of me and think I’m really this way!” In a snap her embarrassment turns to worry. “Zuko, all our hard work…”

“Katara, don’t worry. It’ll take more than a local act to even make a scratch at your reputation.”

“But-!”

“Let’s just see this through, okay? If you’re still worried after the show, we can talk to the writer or their manager.”

The play ends with Zuko’s coronation and after the curtain call, the playwright comes on stage. He thanks the actors, the production team, and the audience. Lastly, he brings to attention the presence of the Avatar and his friends. Members of the audience all rush to see if Aang is seated among them. As he and the cast exit the stage, a last roll of cloth unfurls. Instead of a backdrop of scenery however, it contains a disclaimer absent from prior shows: _All characters and events in this show – even those based on real people – are entirely fictional. We have taken many liberties at their portrayal._

Zuko reaches for Katara’s hand. “Still worried?”

Katara squeezes his hand. “Did you have anything to do with that?”

“Sokka wanted to go backstage before the show to check on actor-Sokka’s jokes and I knew there would be very fictitious portrayals of us. So I went with Sokka and looked for the writer. I only wanted to make sure they had a warning or something.”

“Really, just because we’re married now doesn’t mean _all_ of our interactions have been nauseatingly romantic,” Katara mutters under her breath. “But thank you so much, Zuko. I think I’ll give their next play a chance.”

“Please, let’s not watch them ever again. I love you, but I don’t think I can accompany you to another one of their shows.” Zuko answers, exasperated. Katara only laughs and kisses her husband.

"I love you, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first sentence of the disclaimer is taken from South Park.
> 
> #25 is not the only update today. I've also posted #24 earlier. Because I'm catching up on prompts!


	26. #26 Heartbeat / Tradition

**#26**

**Feb 27: Heartbeat**

**May 27: Tradition**

Zuko pressed his good ear against Katara’s round stomach. For days now he would do this. Zuko would claim he could hear it, their baby’s heartbeat. Katara would laugh and say that wasn’t medically possible. He would brush her off and claim he will always listen to her, their little daughter. She would ask how he was so sure the baby would be a girl.

“Father’s instinct?” he’d say.

He’d come a long way from the hours of panic after first knowing they were becoming parents. Katara, for all her years mothering their friends, had been afraid too. Raising children was an entirely different thing from reigning in childish behaviours. It hadn’t been long until they realized the other’s fears and sought comfort in each other. Sought comfort in a now years long tradition in their relationship. They spent most of the day and half the night talking – about both worries and excitement – and from then on, their morning whispers of “ _To grow old and grow together”_ took on greater meaning.


	27. #27 Aurora

**#27**

**May 19: Aurora**

“Dad! We’re going to Mom’s home in winter and that’s final!” announced a four-year old Izumi as soon as she entered her father’s office. It was the middle of the day and Zuko was busy looking through ledgers and scrolls in preparation for his afternoon meetings. He only had twenty minutes before the first of them and having his daughter around might not be the best for the productive head start he had planned.

“Good afternoon, Izumi. Daddy’s busy right now, can we talk about this later?” Zuko hoped she would listen when he used his reasonable tone but the plea seemed to fall on deaf ears.

“Dad, we’ll see the southern lights! Like in Mom’s stories!” By then she had climbed up to his lap, trying to see if there were any pictures on the scrolls he was reading. “Aren’t you excited?”

Zuko wondered what suddenly brought this on. Katara always told Izumi stories about the Southern Water Tribe, the lights, the animals, the igloos, the people. Katara always did, but never did the stories inspire such determination in his daughter about travelling south. He suspected it must have taken some active planning on his wife’s part. Where was she anyway? Katara had told him in the morning that she had no Fire Lady business for the day and will spend the day with their daughter.

As he was thinking, Katara appeared by his office door. “Izumi left running. I assume she already told you our vacation plans?”

“Have you had lunch already?”

“Yes. Before meditation with Uncle.”

“Don’t Izumi’s sessions with him last longer? It’s barely an hour after noon,” Zuko asked.

“Well…”

Izumi chose that moment to leap off his lap. “Dad, look!” She sat cross-legged on the floor beside his large desk, closed her eyes, and began meditating. It confused Zuko even more. Until the unlit lamp on a corner of his desk was suddenly burning with its own small brightness against the midday sun.

In a burst of joy, Zuko picked Izumi up and hugged her tightly. “You’re a Firebender!”

“We’re going to visit Uncle Sokka and Auntie Suki in the winter!” Izumi mirrored the excitement in her father’s voice.

When Zuko looked to Katara, she was already seated on a plush chair, helping herself to a tea cookie from the jar saved for visitors. “Meditation with Uncle was cut short when she lit all the candles in the room. He said letting you know that our daughter is a Firebender was a good reason to postpone to tomorrow.”

“And this about going to the South Pole?” Zuko asked, recalling that he and Katara had agreed that there would be no family trips to the poles until Izumi was older and less vulnerable to the cold.

“I only told her that now she can bend fire, she can keep herself warm in the snow. Izumi is a smart girl, she concluded the vacation plans herself.”

“Ah, she really is our daughter.” Zuko, carrying Izumi, walked over to Katara. The hug he meant for Katara trapped Izumi in too. “Our first child is a Firebender, Katara.”

A few moments into the hug, Izumi struggled out of her parents’ arms. “Yes, I’m a Firebender! Will Auntie Azula start teaching me now?”

Katara pulled Izumi back into a hug. “I’m not ready to let you go yet, my little bear cub. Besides, your auntie’s school only accepts older girls. You can go when you’re a little bit bigger, okay?”

“For now, you have me and Uncle Iroh.”

Izumi pouted a little. “Auntie is a better Firebender than both of you, but I like all of you so it’s okay!”

Her bright smile further stoked the pride in her parents’ hearts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy to deliver a chapter featuring one (1) steambaby!


	28. #28 Fairy tale / Cherish

**#28**

**Feb 20: Fairy tale**

**May 20: Cherish**

At ten years old, Izumi had already deemed herself too old for her parents’ bedtime stories. With one exception. Whenever they tell the fairy tale of her father’s own making, she would listen in by the nursery door. If her suspicions were right, this will be one of the last few times she’ll hear it at bedtime. It was the twins who were fond of requesting it but Kasumi and Koyuki will be turning five soon and moving to their own rooms, leaving behind little three-year old Iroh in the royal nursery. Izumi suspected the bedtime nursery stories will be mostly Avatar adventures when it’s only Iroh left asking. Their youngest sibling was very fond of their Uncle Aang and the Avatar made up for his absence with letters detailing his adventures, asking his friends to read them to their children, too.

For now though, Izumi will enjoy their mother’s retelling of _The Giving Dragon_.

“Once upon a time there was a little girl in a little village. The little village had very little but a dragon liked to go to them anyway and ask for things that they don’t have. Gold, food, silver, clothing, and finally, someone who can bend water.”

“Someone like Mommy!” Kasumi exclaimed.

“The little girl grew up and she learned she can bend water.”

It was Koyuki that interrupts this time. “But she isn’t as good as you!”

“We don’t know, my snowflake. But she grew up and she learned she can bend. For once, the little village had something the dragon wanted. When the dragon came back, the villagers were reluctant to let the little girl go with him.

“The dragon didn’t always ask nicely, so they thought he was bad and would hurt the girl. The now grown-up girl was more important to their village, too. With her bending, she helped hunt for food and build their ice houses. She helped with other goings-on in the village – teaching children how to cook and sew pelt clothing and fight without bending.”

“The dragon isn’t bad though!” Koyuki interrupted again.

“You’re right. He isn’t bad. We’re not at that part yet, though. So the dragon came back and he asked for the Waterbender to go with him.”

Kasumi then excitedly said, “And she fought him!”

“Yes, the girl grew a little braver through the years too. So she asked the dragon to a fight. If she beat him, he has to leave the village be and never ask them for anything ever gain. If he beat her, she will go willingly with him.”

“The dragon agrees and fights her and beats her!” Koyuki excitedly continued.

“No! The dragon agrees and lets her practice,” Kasumi challenged. “Remember? The dragon is like Izumi. She always gives us time to practice by ourselves before we practice bending with her!”

“Your sister is right, Koyuki. The dragon agreed and promised to come back after a year, saying that she should prepare during that time. She did prepare. She left the village looking for a teacher and she found many. Can you tell me what she learned from her teachers?”

One of Kasumi’s hands shot up, as eagerly as it would during classroom lessons. “One taught her how to build better ice houses and catch more fish.”

Koyuki followed, “Another taught her how to heal.”

Iroh was young, but because it was the thing he most remembered from this stories, his sisters left him to the last answer. He babbled, “Fight, fight, fight.”

“Yes, a lot of the teachers she had met taught her how to fight. When the time came that she and the dragon had to fight, she was ready. But she wasn’t ready enough, because in the final showdown she paused only a moment but then suddenly the dragon had her cornered in walls of fire.

“He beat her and because of their agreement, she had to go with him. The villagers cried when they said goodbye before she was flown on his back to an island where it snowed much less than in her home. They landed in front of a big house that was magical.”

“Yes! The door makes the dragon a boy!”

Katara continued, “That’s right. It shocked the girl when she first saw him enter the house. But she was more shocked when she saw the rest of the many people in the house. The boy went down on his knees and begged her to help him take care of them and heal them. He heard only a Waterbender can help.

“The girl agreed but only if the dragon boy promised that he would always be kind from then on. Because of his promise, they were able to take better care of everyone in the big house.

“One night he asked about the fight that she lost. She had almost beaten him, but paused before acting. She told him she wanted to do something powerful that a witch taught her. She told him she had used it once before, but felt sick because of it. He told her that like for every person in their house, they would find a cure for her sickness, too.”

“They did find a cure, right, Mommy? In the other stories, the dragon is very good at finding things too.” Kasumi said with a yawn.

“They did and once everyone in the house became better, they all lived happily ever after.”

“Happily ever after,” Koyuki echoed, a yawn following her too.

Izumi got up from her place near the nursery door. It wasn’t the perfect telling of her favourite bedtime story – if you asked her, Uncle Iroh was the best at it – but she had enjoyed it nonetheless. Quietly, she tiptoed back to her own room, only to be greeted by her father.

“I was about to say good night. Did your mom choose _The Giving Dragon_ for tonight’s story?” Zuko asked teasingly.

Izumi giggled. “Yes. I will never tire of hearing it. It’s your and Mom’s story. I will forever cherish it until I grow as old as you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a fairy tale with a side of steambabies


	29. #29 Power Couple / Family

**#29**

**Feb 6: Power Couple**

**May 6: Family**

“Katara, I’d really like to abdicate the throne to Izumi when the time is right.”

“I know, Zuko.”

“You know? And you think that isn’t selfish of me?”

“I told you before that I’ll never let it happen that you die the Fire Lord. That didn’t only mean I’ll let someone kill you while in office. I knew being the Fire Lord since 16 would eventually catch up on you. It was only a matter of when. And I stopped thinking of you as selfish long ago. I like to think that I married a very selfless man who grew to be even more compassionate and generous over time.”

“You’re not worried about Izumi?”

“Dear, Izumi is a grown woman now. She just had a child, if you remember.”

“That does not mean we should stop worrying about her!”

“I’m not saying that either. I’ll never not worry about any of them. But she’s a grown woman and you’ve shown her all the ropes at being the Fire Lord. She still has quite a few more to learn, yes. But so did you, when you first became the Fire Lord.”

“I don’t want her to fumble around like I did!”

“I know she won’t. She has you, for one, and all the rest of us. Her sisters are never away from the capital, they’ll keep her _and_ her enemies on their toes, and Iroh runs to his sister’s side at the first sign of trouble, no matter the distance from Republic City. Uncle Iroh, too, I’m just so glad he decided to retire here. Besides, you’re not the only one who married someone supportive. Izumi has Sa’i. He’s a great husband and already proving to be a great father. Whenever Izumi assumes the throne, he’ll still be there.”

Zuko already said those same reasons to himself many times. But it’s always different hearing assuring things from his wife.

“Now stop worrying and tell me about your plans after your abdication.”

“As the Fire Lady wishes. For the first few months I know I’d be restless doing nothing – I think I’d like to go with you wherever you’re being kept busy. But I promise not to interrupt! I know you hate it when I go anywhere near your beloved projects.

“We’ll visit our friends and family all over. We’ll go to the Gao Ling estate to meet Toph’s new batch of students, fly to whichever air temple Aang is spending the year, have a quick peek at the Jasmine Dragon – if Azula hasn’t burned it down yet, see if Suki and Sokka’s family has grown any larger than when we last saw it, visit Kiyi at the military academy.

“We’ll take the grandkids to Ember Island at the height of summer. They’ll complain about the heat so we’ll take them to the South Pole in the middle of winter. That way, I think they’ll enjoy the southern lights more than I did the first time I saw them.”

Katara chuckles at the memory. Has it been that many years already?

“But then they’ll miss the sun and we can easily convince them to return to the beach next summer and they’ll whine again and the cycle goes on and on. Maybe Hakoda will tell them to go ice dodging but because we’re far too old to be on a sailboat guided by barely teenagers, their Uncle Nanouk will take them and worry about them by himself, and we can stay huddled together in an igloo like we did so many years ago. Sounds nice?”

“Very nice. I’d like that and more, Zuko.”


	30. #30 Without #31 Legend

**#30**

**May 30: Without**

**May 31: Legend**

When Zuko had announced that he would be stepping down as Fire Lord, it wasn’t a surprise to Kaito and he brought up his retirement too. Zuko and Katara could not fault him for it. Since his return from studying public administration in Ba Sing Se University, his life had been solely dedicated in service. He had no family of his own. But as advisor to the Fire Lord, he was allowed residence in the palace and practically lived as part of the royal family. He had come a long way from the small child in a neglected orphanage.

Their agreement was for him to stay on as advisor for a year into Izumi’s rule. It wasn’t much that they asked, truly. Kaito was still a few years younger than Zuko and Katara. Besides, he hadn’t really been able to say no to Izumi’s wishes since she was a little girl.

Yet, he couldn’t deny that there was much missed in the absence of the well-loved couple. The public had of course been informed of Zuko’s abdication but even a few months after Izumi’s ascent, many still looked for Zuko and Katara’s leadership.

Earlier at court, one of the nobles had insinuated that she was unfit to rule. Kaito, familiar with her quick ire ever since she had been a child, had to turn it around as a compliment to her parents. True enough. Through the decades the Fire Nation had been in their care, their people had been able to know peace. Now, without them at the helm, many people felt as if their commitment to peace as a nation dwindle. It was one of the reasons he was asked to stay for a while. To show many of them that while Izumi will rule in her own right and act on her own priorities, their leadership will not break faith from the peace that so many of them worked hard for.

It wasn’t only in the politics did the capital miss them. Zuko and Katara had agreed to retire to the beach house in Ember Island. Not too big, to move around comfortably in their old bones, but big enough to entertain family and friends who might visit. Their group were the visiting kind of people, as many residents of both Caldera and Harbor City would know. The former Fire Lord and Fire Lady were often visiting shops and stalls downtown. Occasionally, a family would invite them into their home for a meal. It had begun with the more well-off residents that had much to show for inside their homes. However after the couple happily accepted an invitation from a factory worker who lived in an above-shop apartment she shared with co-workers, many more were encouraged to share their table and stories with Zuko and Katara.

The court missed them, the residents missed them. He missed his two friends, too. But he could confidently bet that they were very happy now, leaving a legacy of peace worthy of legend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feels like a cop out (because it is) to combine may 30 and may 31 prompts but lets be real, this whole thing was a cop out from doing the prompts for feb and may separately! BUT HERE WE ARE AT THE END OF THIS! There is close to zero "big" plot through these chapters but writing this felt rewarding and I'm happy I got to finish something during a year that felt I had no control over anything. Of course, thank you for those who read this work!


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